Dawn opened the door to the yarn shop. It wasn’t anything elaborate. A few shelves of varying weights of yarn and thread. A section for greeting cards and a few dozen bolts of fabric. Her favorite part was probably the 24 inch tall goose that peered through the window. Her Aunt called her Margaret Hatcher. She would often adorn her in the mostadorably absurd garments and it never failed to bring a smile to her face. If Dawn remembered correctly, this was supposed to be her retirement plan. Oh she used to make the most elaborate tapestries. They could still to this day be found all over the Quarter. She handspun most of the yarn herself but once her arthritis set in, she had to slow down. She had an apartment space built onto the back of the building some years ago and invited Dawn to come out and stay while she went to school. They got along so well that she never left. Since school was coming to an end, she hoped she would let her stay.

  A rather rotund cat affectionately named “Chonk” jumped down from behind Margaret and sauntered over to her as she closed the door behind her. She made her way through the shop to the back with her furry little friend looping between her feet, begging for her to pick him up. Finally succumbing to his relentless waddling, she bent down to get him right as she heard a loud “BOO” shouted from behind her . Standing up so fast she was worried the cat got whiplash, she spun around to see who it was only to find her aunt doubled over laughing. “Deeana Marlow, that is no way to welcome someone home.” Setting Chonk down to give her aunt a hug, Dawn was glad to be back. “Work doesn’t usually keep you till the next day do they? Is everything ok?” Her aunt usually waited up until she got home from the restaurant so she could lock up the rest of the way before turning in for the night. “Yeah no work was fine, I just had a bit of a detour to my plans for the night.” Dawn set her purse and keys down on the table before heading into her bedroom. Her aunt, pondering the meaning of her niece's response, had a seat at the table. Chonk returned to his pillow under the coffee table in the living room, content and oblivious to his human companions' happenings. Taking note of her appearance when she got home, Aunt Dee (as Dawn called her) began the questions. “What detour? Was there traffic?” She knew full well that Dawn's “plans for the night” involved a couch nap with Chonk and an hour or two of classwork before turning in. They lived on the edge around here. “No, no traffic. I had…” she thought about it for a moment. What could she call it? A date? An impromptu party?A sleepover? Settling on the party aspect she continued changing as she shouted her answer back across the doorway. “It was a party. Real last minute stuff. We stayed over and didn’t leave until this morning. I already had breakfast though so you don’t need to worry about making me anything.” She emerged from her room and gave her aunt a kiss on the forehead. Aunt Dee raised an eyebrow. “We? Did you meet up with someone?” Dawn retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge and made her way to the couch. It was a L shaped couch that kind of wrapped around one wall so the seat in the corner was perfect for sitting with your legs up. Heaven help you if you forgot to take your shoes off first though. Aunt Dee didn’t scare her about much, but that was a definite no no. “Not really, we just kinda bumped into each other. He isn’t even from around here so I doubt you’d know him.” She grabbed the remote to put on a show as Aunt Dee came and not so casually sat with her. “Tell me more.” she asked.

  Dawn went through some of the particulars from the evening. She talked about the rude customer and how John responded. She mentioned the party and laughed reminiscing about Ray and Anita. “ And then here comes this HUGE dog. I mean he might as well have been a bear. He just came in and let me pet him. I’m glad he liked me because I felt like I could have used his water bowl as a bathtub.” Dee listened to her niece go on and on. She was happy to see her so excited about something. She had always been very protective of her. Ever since her mother left, anyway. She was thankful to have the positive energy in the house. It had just been her and Chonk for ages. Still. She worried for the girl. Checking her pocket watch, she rose from her seat and made her way to the store front. “I’m so glad you had a good time darling. It’s almost 10 so I must go ahead and get things started out here. Do let me know if you need anything?” Dawn smiled and nodded. “Yes ma’am.” The door shut and Chonk made his way to Dawn's lap to finish his morning nap. It wasn’t long before the rhythmic vibrations of his purring made her follow suit. Dee came back in to get her phone and smiled at the sight they made.

  John pulled up to Jason’s house. Paparazzi littered the lawn in front of his gate. Instructing the driver to call the gate attendant so they could enter, he looked over the crowd. The usual familiar faces. Once they noticed the car, they swarmed it. Suddenly dozens of people were peeking into the windows, snapping photons of whatever they could, and being a complete nuisance. They weren’t all bad. Most of the ones in town however had something to do with his mother. When he heard she bought the town paper he laughed. He remembered Jayne saying something along the lines of “Now she can read about herself.” It did sadden him that his siblings finally had similar experiences with her. He always honored their relationship with her, even if his was complete shit. His father’s words rang in his ears. “A man must form his own opinions of those around him, my boy. Where one holds disdain for someone, another could hold the highest respect. Just because you are not one persons favorite, doesn’t mean that to another you aren’t the world.” His breath caught in his throat a moment. That was one of his last coherent conversations with the man. He missed him. It wasn’t long after that talk that he really began to decline. He could still smell the citrus and vanilla aftershave he would wear.

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  As they parked and John exited the vehicle, he looked around. Jayne noticed him and make her way over as he continues surveying the area. He almost didn’t see her as she raised her hand to smack the back of his head. “Where were you!” She asked, obviously upset at his absence from the previous evening. John rubbed the back of his head and apologized. “I know, it was a dick move. I’m sorry.” Jayne settled and after looking him over to be sure all of his limbs were still there, she calmed down the rest of the way. “So, what happened?” John put his hands in his pockets. “Well…” he began. “I kinda took off with the waitress. We went out to Ray and Anitas.” Having been out there herself a time or two, she understood the appeal versus where they went for dinner that night. “Well Leslie was rather taken with you and insisted I give her your number since she didn’t get it from you herself.” John froze. The idea of that woman blowing up his phone after she was disrespectful to someone for just doing their job irked him. “Jay Jay tell me you are joking.” Jayne looked completely serious. “Please, tell me you didn’t…” Jayne, sensing her brother's discomfort, backed down and fessed up. “No, I didn’t. But you could have been a little more descriptive in your message or I don’t know, not left me there alone to explain why you never came back.” John nodded in agreement. “You are right. I’m sorry.” Jayne saw the look in her brother's eyes. She knew he didn’t mean anything by it. She felt bad for coming at him so hard. He was a good man and he deserved to have a good time. She certainly didn’t want to rain on his parade for finding a spot of sunshine during all of this. “No, I am. You didn’t do anything wrong, and Leslie was a tool. I’ll stop dragging you to things like then when I know it makes you uncomfortable. Tell me about your evening.” John was about to do so when he noticed something odd. Well, odd for Jason anyway. “Jayne, look around.” Jayne took a gander across the yard. “What do you see?” Jayne kept looking, confused by his question and sudden derailment of the conversation. “I see grass. Yep, lots of grass. Some brush, a couple dry plants, and…” She looked back towards the house. “Man, he really needs to get his landscaper out here.” John nodded. “Exactly. How long did they say he’s been gone now? Like 4 days or so?” Jayne nodded. “Yeah he called me. He asked if Uncle Gill had come by. Apparently Mom stopped by looking for him. She hadn’t said anything to me about him so I didn’t think anything of it.” John thought for a moment before speaking. “Weather been ok lately?” Jayne was puzzled by her brother's question. “Yeah, it's been a bit humid but it's Louisiana. Why do you ask?” John walked up to one of the withered rose bushes and snapped what used to be a blossom off. It practically fell apart in his hand. Crisp and brittle as could be. “Because his garden is dead. I’m not talking it's been a few days. This is dead, dead. Let me call Ray and see what he thinks.” Jayne nodded and made her way inside as John took some photos and called Ray.

  “AYE MAH BOY!” Ray answered the phone so loud that John had to pull it away from his face for a moment.

  “Hey, I got a question. If I shoot you some pictures, do you think you could tell me what’s wrong with some of Jason's plants?”

  “Yeah, sho. You're gonna come by dah house?”

  ”No, I’m gonna send them to your phone.”

  ”Oh, ok yeah…how you gon do dat?”

  “I’m gonna take the pictures here…”

  ”Yeah?”

  ”And then I’m gonna send them to your phone.”

  ”Oh ok yeah yeah. Well we be here. You know she doesn't let me leave no mo.”

  John could hear Ray laughin as he was sure Anita gave him a look. Remembering Ray wasn’t the best with technology, he smiled “I'll send them to her phone.” John could hear Anitas phone ringing when he sent the pictures. Ray put him on speaker so they could talk as she showed him the images of the bushes and garden. “Oh my.” Ray didn’t know what to make of it. “Why ain’t he had no one come out and water? Those bushes turned into tumbleweed only they can’t tumble no mo.” John agreed. “About how long would you say something like this would take to happen?” Ray thought for a moment. “Kick up the dirt a bit, lemme see the base of the plant.” John did as he requested. “Does the dirt feel dry at all?” John shook his head. “No, looks like the sprinklers ran this morning and everything.” Puzzled for a moment, Ray considered the causes. “I don’t know, could take anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks. Looks like maybe root rot and nobody watered em for a month or so. Dats why they are so crispy and brown lookin. Other than that, I don’t know. Ain’t nothing like that popped up around here in awhile.” John thanked him for his help and ended the call. So far he has been met with more questions than answers and things were not off to a great start. He went inside to help Jayne look over the house and hoped they would come up with something. He wasn’t leaving until he did.