July

July was unprecedented in its harmony. The snoring stopped. Janine began to leave conciliatory links to hound pups on cuteoverload.com after every light bulb she smashed. Ricardo quit Cerlox binding his weekly reports and said he might consider biweeklies. Mostly dormant, Joad craved oranges. Stacie still thought the fake inkblot pranks no one would own to bore Tracey’s signature, and vice versa. But the jokes were mellowing, becoming more “with you” than “at you”, as Ricardo explained in “Week II”. Joad left him an orange slice – a hope against hope. Perhaps someday they could visit Graceland, multiple personality and all.