“No,” she said thoughtfully. “It’s not that. Honestly, they’re not going to call the cops over pocket change. The folks who work there probably do it too. It’s more like . . . a code.”

“A code?” I said.

“Just, rules to live by,” she said. “It’s weird. But I feel like somehow the button is theirs, and the money is ours. I’m not sure why it matters to have rules, but it does matter. To me. Make sense?”

“I guess so,” I said. I wasn’t sure that it did make sense, actually. But I nodded anyway. This was Jasper’s adventure. I was just trailing along behind her, soaking everything up. It made sense to me that we followed her code, whatever that meant. Especially since I wasn’t sure that I even had a code. Did I have a code?

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll remember next time.”

“Cool,” she said, with a nod. “Thanks!”

“So, what’d you find?” I asked.

With a special extra-secret smile, Jasper opened her hand and unfolded it, and in the center of her palm was some change. Quarters and dimes. But shining on top was a silver dollar. “Look!” she said.

“Oh, neat,” I said. And it was neat, but not as neat as Jasper’s smile.

“I love silver dollars,” she said, running her finger over the shiny surface. “They’re my favorite. Have you had one before?” She held it out for me to inspect, like it was a talisman of some kind, a rare jewel.

I thought about all the silver dollars I’d gotten from the tooth fairy over the years, and the ones Sam had too. It was a tradition at our house. “Yeah,” I said. “I have, a few times . . . but why do you like them so much?”

Jasper shrugged. “I don’t know. Because they last forever? And because they’re prettier than they have to be. And people forget about them. They spend them like quarters, without realizing. Silver dollars just feel . . . special. Different from regular money. You know?”

Suddenly I did. As I stared at the coin shining in Jasper’s upturned palm, that silver dollar seemed like the most special thing in the world. So special I had a lump in my throat, though I wasn’t exactly sure why.

“Anyway, come on!” said Jasper, handing me a gummy worm. “It’s been a good day. Let’s get over to the bus stop.”

“Oh, before we do that,” I said, “I have to tell you something. I had a problem on the bus, before, and I guess now I need to borrow fifty cents.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jasper. “I mean, sure, you can borrow the money, but what happened on the bus?”

“Well, see . . . I didn’t have exact fare when I got on the bus to come here, and I didn’t know the driver couldn’t make change, so . . .”