Chloe in Willowmere

Chloe catches Rosie for one more question on the sidewalk, notebook pressed to her chest as if it might steady her. She asks it plainly at last, with no philosophy wrapped around it: 'Am I real?' Rosie doesn't hesitate, doesn't puzzle over metaphysics, doesn't search for a clever answer. 'You're my friend,' she says. 'That's real enough.' Then, with the swift mercy of childhood, she is already running off toward the rest of her afternoon, leaving Chloe in the warm light with something gentler than certainty and somehow far more useful.