The relationship between Ava and Joel developed with the particular logic of children, which had no logic visible from the outside but was entirely consistent from within.
Ava had decided, from the moment Joel closed his hand around her finger, that he was her primary responsibility. She did not negotiate this position. She simply occupied it. She told people about him with the proprietary pride of someone introducing their own project. She monitored his schedule with a reliability that was, frankly, useful. She informed Marcus and me when Joel was making sounds that suggested hunger or discomfort, often before we had registered them ourselves.
"She's going to be a doctor," Dana said, watching Ava conduct an assessment of Joel's general status one afternoon.
"She's going to be whatever
