I was curled up on the couch, my arms around my knees, gazing with dead eyes at the TV screen. I had turned the volume down low enough the voices of the people on-screen were nothing but a murmur. I didn’t mind. They weren’t saying anything interesting. I had a nice numb feeling going on when—

“What are you watching?”

So much for trying to reduce the adrenaline in my body.

Fortunately, my racing heart tried to escape by jumping into my throat. It wasn’t all that hard to catch it and put it back in my chest. That done, I turned around. Conrad was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame. He took up so much room, I could barely see any space around him.

“You startled me,” I said.

“Sorry.”

“Nah. It’s all right.” I turned back to the TV. Looking at his hulking form was making me nervous. I curled up again. “I think it’s the shopping channel.”

“Do you want to be watching this?”

I shrugged with one shoulder. Even that was almost too much effort for my current mood. “It’s voices. I just wanted—”

I swallowed back the rest of that sentence. There is such a thing as too much honesty.

Conrad moved further into the room. “Sure. But the shopping channel? Do they even count as real people?”

I smiled. “You know, the lady does look kind of plastic.”

I heard a chuffing sound, like a dog makes when it blows air out its nose. I glanced to my side. The light from the TV was enough for me to make out the curve of Conrad’s lips. If he was smiling, maybe the chuff was his laugh.

I picked up the remote from beside me and dropped it on the coffee table. It’s clunking noise was louder than the show. “I couldn’t figure out the TV,” I admitted. “I don’t even know what kind of channels you get here, but I found this, and…you know.”

He probably didn’t. Not many people would.

Back when I lived at the hospital, sometimes I’d wake up in the middle of the night. It’s hard to be alone when you can’t sleep. It’s harder when you know you’re dying. There were times I needed to hear someone else’s voice—anyone else’s—or I thought I would skip the whole cancer thing and die of loneliness instead. But the nurses were busy, and I knew it would be wrong to monopolize them, so I turned on the TV to keep me company.

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I couldn’t watch any dramas or crime shows; my stress was high enough. If I was lucky, I might find some old comedies playing, but when that failed me, I could always turn to the shopping channel. At least they were paid to smile.

The wolfman came around the edge of the couch. His steps were slow. “Hey, if this is really your thing, don’t let me stop you, but if you want, I could help you find a show that at least has some chance of being entertaining.”

I craned my head so I could give him a side-long glance. “What kind of channels do you have?”

“You name it, we probably have it.”

I felt a bit of hope flutter around my ribs. “Anime?”

“What’s anime?”

All my hope, fear, sadness, and loneliness had exactly one microsecond to move aside to make way for the tsunami of disbelief.

“What do you mean ‘what’s anime?’” I cried. “Anime! Japanese animation!”

“Cartoons?”

“They’re not—” I groaned. “They’re not cartoons. This is stuff like Naruto, One Piece, Fullmetal Alchemist.” The only thing I got from the wolfman was a blank look. “You really don’t know what anime is?”

“‘Fraid not.”

“No Crunchyroll?”

“Is that some kind of sushi?”

I had to smile. “All right, you philistine, what about American cartoons?”

“That, we can do.”

He reached out. I passed him the remote while silently marveling at the size of his hands.

Paws?

Whatever. They were massive. And so fluffy.

He said, “We have Cartoon Network and Boomerang with the normal channels, but Netflix has a pretty good selection. Not sure about Hulu.”

“You have streaming services?”

“Yup.”

I had died—no, I really had died—and, clearly, this was a slightly inferior form of heaven. Only the really good boys and girls get Crunchyroll when they die.

That’s what I get for being a pain to my various foster parents.

“Netflix please!”

He showed me how to get to the preview channel, so I could see what was on TV, and how to move over to the streaming services.

I gasped when he opened up Netflix. Not only did they have cartoons, but they also knew what anime was.

They didn’t have the selection I might have wished for, but they had some new stuff, as well as a few familiar titles that made me feel like I was back with old friends.

Considering the fact I was hunkered down in front of the TV at one in the morning because of my nightmares, I decided to skip the anime and keep it lighthearted.

“Phineas…and Ferb?” Conrad said.

He sounded more curious than condescending, so I put my defensiveness aside.

“Have you seen it?” I asked

“It was after my time. I haven’t watched cartoons since I was ten or twelve.”

“Oh, you poor child.”

He gave me a look. It was weird with the muzzle and the yellow eye, but you could tell that’s what he was doing.

“Some of the best shows only came out in the early two-thousands! And this”—I motioned to the screen with both hands—“this glorious masterpiece is one of them.”

“Really?”

“Absolutely.”

He motioned to the spot next to me. “May I?”

There were two seconds of silence, then I squeaked—because I knew I shouldn’t shout—“You want to watch it with me?”

“I hear it’s supposed to be a masterpiece.”

“Sure! Be my guest!” I scooted over so he’d have more room.

He settled into his corner of the couch as I pressed play. Maybe I hadn’t done such a good job putting my heart back in my chest; for a few minutes, it felt like it was trying to float away. I was happier than when I’d gotten my rose-gold phone. That’s what cartoons and companionship will do for you.