And I was living in the small prefab house
With Kate and her daughter Stephanie
We called Stephanie the fairy queen
She was autistic
And Kate would craft these very elaborate fairy stories that would help her deal with the world
And I would mostly buff it people away from her
Because
If Stephanie's little bubble was punctured
She would stand and scream
Like somebody from invasion of body snatchers
And Kate and I had a running joke
Or maybe not joke
I would leave her broccoli florets
In the refrigerator or in vases of water
And that was like I was leaving her these elaborate floral bouquets
And then I dreamed
I was interviewing this woman
She had been from a rich family she had a lot of things
But she hadn't particularly liked that
And she'd gone to live her life differently
She had the small converted barn
With a dirt floor
And very little furniture
And nothing in the way of decoration
And she had a child
By herself
But at some point the child had died
So now
There was a spider that lived in the barn
But she couldn't bring herself to kill it
But she was afraid of it
And it will over elaborate pictures
That she would stare at for hours
And she admitted
With a small amount of what seemed like maybe shame
That she had gotten herself a small teddy bear
Just because she needed something to hug
