“It was a total accident. My sister lives over in East Lake, and after we had our last fight, I just left the house and started walking. I walked and walked and walked, down Glenwood, over the highway, and past a bunch of houses, until I ended up in East Atlanta, at the coffee shop. Joe’s. The lady there was nice. She let me sit there a long time and gave me a piece of rainbow cake. I had my suitcase with me, but I don’t think she even saw it, or had any idea what was going on. I think she just could tell that I was having a bad day.”

“That’s Dawn,” I said, nodding. “She’s great. She’s like . . . everyone’s aunt, kind of.”

“Okay, so I was sitting there, and after I finished my cake, I noticed there was an old poster on the wall, about an Easter egg hunt at this farm. So I came to poke around, just because it sounded interesting, and I didn’t have anything else to do. But then I was exploring, and I found this abandoned house, and it seemed like maybe I could hang out here for a while, until I figured out what to do. Then I met you! My fairy godsister. And you fed me and fixed this place up and I’m not sure what would have happened if you hadn’t stumbled along the creek that day. And that is pretty much the whole story. The End.”

She sat there, staring at me.

“I . . . I can’t . . . ,” I began. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Jasper shrugged. “I’m not sure there’s really anything to say.”

“Have you talked to your sister since you left?”

“Yeah, I FaceTimed her the day after I left. The first night alone was really hard. I just wanted to talk to someone, you know?”

I nodded. “I can imagine, kind of.”

“I could tell she felt bad. She said I could come by for cash, if I need it. And I guess I will. But it doesn’t fix anything, not really.”

“I just . . . I don’t know how you ever feel better with all that hanging over you. Like, here you are eating pickles and enjoying them, even though you have this in your head, the whole time.”

Jasper chewed for a moment. “I guess sometimes you just do feel better. Like, you make a new friend or get a free piece of cake or enjoy a pickle, and that’s enough to make things feel okay for a while. Just because things are hard doesn’t mean life isn’t still full of good things. Right? The same way your brother died, but the pickles are still good to you too.”

“I guess,” I said.

“Like, this place”—she threw her hands around her—“is still beautiful, no matter what else is going on. Mostly I remember that.”