Bones had very colorful furniture. His whole house was made up of greens, yellows, reds, and blues. Alley and Bones munched on fruit salad and chocolate chip cookies. The fruit was so fresh and juicy; it was unlike anything Alley had ever tasted before.

"This is so much better than the tiny salads the hospital gives out." The word hospital escaped her lips for the second time since first coming to Isle.

"Hospital?"

"Oh, yeah. Bones, I have a disease called leukemia and I have to live in a hospital to get better."

"Leu-what-ia?"

"Leukemia."

"Oh. Will you be okay, Alley?"

"I hope so. I don't even know what this disease does to me. The doctors are getting worried, though."

Bones nodded, unsure of what to say.

"But," Alley continued, "I'll be okay. I just know it. I mean, when I'm here, I'm not unhealthy. I just feel so alive and free. I just feel so good when I visit. Maybe I'll get better if I come here each day."

"You'll be okay, Alley. I promise."

Those very words gave her a sense of security; a calming state of peace. No one on Earth ever told her that.

"What do you want to do now?" Bones asked. He and Alley were sitting under a pear tree. Alley closed her eyes and sighed.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This, right here, is perfect."

Bones leaned back and smiled to himself.

"Just sitting here in the shade," Alley said, "just being here...it's all right. Everything feels so right."

"Yeah, it does, doesn't it?" Bones closed his eyes too.

Alley took a long sniff of the clean Isle air. What did it smell like, though?

Sweet, very sweet. A mix of fresh pears and trimmed grass. A soft aroma of flowers. Plywood. Saltwater. Everything so brand-new and beautiful. This is happiness. This is what it's like to be happy.

Having never experienced much living in a hospital, Alley was sheltered from the outside world. She was never absolutely, fully happy. But, she can't help but wonder, can this qualify as the outside world? It isn't Earth, after all...Can this count as a real place?

When she told this to Bones, he had a very good answer.

"Well, you're real, Alley. You're really here; so isn't that all that matters?"

"Yes, Bones, you must be right."

Late afternoon had come in the small village of Isle. The girl and the dog had not moved from their special spot under the tree.

"Whoa," gasped Alley as she watched the sky turn to an amazing blend of pink and orange. The whole sky seemed to fall around her.

"Hey," said Bones, getting up and offering Alley his paw. "I know a place that's the best spot in town to watch the sunset."

"You do?" Alley said, not taking her eyes off of the beautiful sky.

"Yes! Come on, I'll show you!"

The two friends ran across town, to wherever they needed to go. Alley still wasn't sure where Bones was taking her.

"Where are we going, Bo-"

Alley stopped mid-sentence in awe. They stood on the beach to watch the sunset cast an orange glow over this sleepy little town. The sun made the ocean sparkle in a way Alley could never imagine. The sun turned into a bright, melting orange. Everything had tinted pink as the world held its breath. Another long minute had passed and before young Alley knew it, the sun had retired for the day and the evening sky turned a gorgeous purple. Some stars poked through; though it was still a little early. Alley's neck craned up to watch the whole transformation.

"That was beautiful," she said when she found her voice.

"I told you this was the best spot," Bones declared, looking proud.

"That...what just happened, that sunset...That happens everyday?"

Bones nodded. "You don't have sunsets where you come from?"

"No, we do, just not that amazing. Bones, that was...magical."

Bones smirked. "Well, what else would you call everything that happened to you in the past few days?"