The living, the dead, and the fictional

Driving.

Jane: Is Anne dead?

Erin: Um, Anne who?

Jane: That girl with red hair.

Erin: Anne of Green Gables? She's not real, Sweety.

Jane: Yeah, but is she dead?

Erin: Well... she's not alive. But she was never alive. She is from a book. 

Jane: OK.

A few moments pass.

Jane: So when did Anne of Green Gables die?

Erin: (calmly) Anne of Green Gables is a character in a story. She was made up by a woman more than a hundred years ago. She is in a book. There never was an Anne of Green Gables. She's just a very nice character from a story. 

Jane: So she's not alive.

Erin: Correct.

Jane: But if she was really alive...

Erin: If Anne of Green Gables were alive, she would definitely be dead. Yes.

Jane smiles. She settles back into her car seat and gazes out the window.

Jane: I was just checking.