All the Answers by Kate Messner

secret pencil wish-granting mission.
    â€œCome on in, girls!” Betty, one of the nurses, waved them into the community room. “Sneaking in an extra visit this week?” She parked Mrs. Yu’s wheelchair next to Mrs. Raymond.
    â€œWe brought Ava’s grandpa some music,” Sophie said. They’d loaded Sophie’s iPod with pretty much everything they could find—Sophie and Ava’s popular rock, Marcus’s moody classical stuff, Mr. Anderson’s country songs, Mrs. Anderson’s modern jazz, and a song by a Moroccan band that Sophie’s dad liked. It reminded Ava of the belly dancers she’d seen at the county fair once.
    â€œGood luck with that. He’s in a mood today.” Betty looked down the hallway. Thomas, one of the assistants, was wheeling a scowling Grandpa toward dinner.
    â€œHi, Grandpa!” Ava said.
    Grandpa grunted. Ava leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek once his wheelchair was parked. Dad always told her that even on bad days, the old Grandpa was still in there somewhere, under all the wrinkles and sourness, and he might appreciate a kiss even if Grump-Grandpa didn’t.
    â€œWe brought you some music.” Sophie held up her iPod. Then she turned to Ava and whispered, “Ask the pencil what we should play.”
    Ava pulled the pencil and her legal pad from her backpack and wrote:
    What song should we play for Grandpa?
    â€œIt didn’t answer,” Ava told Sophie.
    â€œAsk it why not.”
    Ava did, and the pencil-voice replied, “Because it is not my job to give advice on playing DJ for a grumpy old man.”
    â€œWow.” Ava put the pencil down and repeated what it said to Sophie. “I don’t think the pencil likes Grandpa.”
    â€œIt only does facts, remember? Ask it …” Sophie thought for a second. “What is Grandpa’s favorite kind of music?”
    Ava did that, and the pencil-voice said, “Jazz.”
    â€œJazz,” Ava repeated.
    â€œPerfect!” Sophie searched until she found one of Mrs. Anderson’s jazz songs. “I think you’ll like this one.” She eased the buds into Grandpa’s ears and pressed Play.
    Grandpa blew a grouchy puff of air through his cracked lips and batted the bud out of his right ear.
    â€œOr not.” Sophie took her earbuds back. Thomas showed up and set plates of mushy-looking lasagna in front of Grandpa and Mrs. Grabowski, and they started eating.
    â€œYou want some dessert, girls?” Thomas asked. “I think I can sneak you a couple of Jell-O or pudding cups.”
    â€œNo thanks,” Ava said, watching Grandpa eat his lasagna and move on to the wiggly green Jell-O. Mrs. Grabowski left hers on the plate and pushed it away. “She looks sad today,” Ava whispered to Sophie.
    Sophie shrugged. “See if she wants to hear some music.”
    So Ava wrote: Does Mrs. Grabowski want to hear some music?
    â€œNot particularly,” the pencil-voice answered.
    Ava paused, then wrote:
What does Mrs. Grabowski want right now?
    â€œShe wants to go back to Ukraine and dance like she did when she was a girl,” the voice said.
    Ava looked at Mrs. Grabowski hunched over the table. There wasn’t much chance of that working out.
    But then the voice said, “Also, she wants pudding instead of Jell-O.”
    Ava told Sophie about Mrs. Grabowski’s wishes.
    â€œThe Jell-O thing’s way easier,” Sophie said. So when Thomas came back, Ava pointed to Mrs. Grabowski. “Could she have pudding instead?”
    Thomas tipped his head, confused. “How come? She looks like she’s done eating.”
    â€œJust see if she wants some, okay? Please?” Sophie smiled.
    Thomas laughed. “I think you’re the one who’s after the pudding—but that’s fine. I’ll see if there’s some left.”
    He came back with a cup of vanilla pudding and put it down next to