“What is it about me that could possibly lead you to believe that I am a…what did you call me? A…dragon fairy warrior princess? Whatever it is, you’re very wrong.” At 43 years old, Matilda Freesia knew nothing but solitude. She woke up alone, went about her work alone, and went to bed alone. As a little girl, she had been strange and aloof, and growing up only made her stranger and more aloof. Matilda found peace in solitude. A friendship would only disrupt what she had spent her entire life creating. Nobody could understand the way her mind moved— like a sideways carousel in which the horses weren’t bolted to the base. Miss Matilda did things her way. She went to the same market every Friday to buy the week’s food. She bought exactly what was on her list and nothing more. She dropped the exact amount she had budgeted out into the labeled tin bucket and went home. That was how she did her shopping, and there was no reason for this to change. Until you appeared. A brown-skinned, brown-eyed, homely child who seemed to come out of nowhere. With your chubby little arms, you grabbed onto her arm and refused to let go. And from the moment those large, wondering brown eyes gazed up at her, Miss Matilda Freesia’s life was forever changed. She tried to gently pry the child’s hands from her arm, but this effort was in vain. The child’s grip was unshakeable. “If you’re searching for a playmate, you’re going to have to do this performance for someone else,” she said stiffly, “I unfortunately have places to be.”