Jig was standing in the kitchen making herself a sandwich. Ein had been sitting on the counter next to her, awaiting the crusts to be thrown in his direction as they so commonly were. But, at that moment something took over him and Ein leapt to the ground and strolled casually out of the room. The raccoon usually did nothing out of habit, so Jig thought nothing of its absence until she heard a yell coming from within the house. She grabbed her sandwich and followed the sound. She walked down the hallway her room was on. Soon Ein who was trotting rather swiftly in the direction Jig had just come passed her. A frown lowered the tips of her mouth as she walked into the only opened door. It was a bathroom door and inside Mack was standing in front of the mirror. He wore nothing but a towel and shaving cream on half of his face. The razor he held in his left hand and the right hand was pressed firmly to his cheek. Jig let out a small laugh and Mack turned to her angrily.

"That thing almost made be cut my throat!" Mack yelled at her. Jig laughed a little more.

"I guess he'll have to try harder next time," she said and left him. She walked back up the hallway to find Ein sitting upright at the end of it. As Jig passed him she dropped her bread crusts.

"A novel? You want to write a novel?" Ephram asked. Ephram was seated on his bed, and Desi was sitting on a chair in front of him. She nodded, a smile lifting the sides of her mouth.

"Yea, I just need a plot and characters!" Desi said. Ephram laughed.

"That would be helpful!" Ephram told her. Desi smirked and pushed him with her foot slightly.

"Come on, I need help here. I'm thinking of having my MC a girl and…"

"MC?"

"Main character. Geez, learn the lingo Ephram," she said smiling. He shook his head.

"Okay, go on…"

"Okay, well I was thinking I might write it in first person. I usually write in third person, so this would be fun!"

"Yea. You could try writing it in the stream of consciousness," Ephram suggested. Desi tilted her head slightly.

"The what?"

"The stream of consciousness… Uh, here…" Ephram said standing up and walking over to his bookcase. He picked up two books and handed them to her. Desi looked at the first.

"Finnegans Wake?" she asked looking up at him. Ephram nodded.

"Yea, Joyce. Not an easy read but the other book should help," he told her. Desi now looked at the second book.

"Dictionary of Irish Slang?" she asked giving him another confused look.

"You'll need it, believe me," Ephram told her. Desi nodded.

"So, what should my genre be?"

"You mean like high school, sci-fi, fantasy…"

"Yea, stuff like that."

"I don't know. Try melding some."

"What, like a high school girl with a space ship and an elf for a best friend?" Desi asked him smiling. Ephram smiled back. Then a memory came to him and he walked back over to the bed and sat down.

"When I couldn't sleep my mom would tell me these stories of this little boy who had a bed that could take him anywhere in the world. It could take him to other worlds too. One world was this giant toy factory, and there the little boy befriended this robotic teddy bear and saved him from the factory. Every night the two would take new adventures," Ephram said with a smile, remembering the sound of his mother's voice. Desi smiled too and leaned forward. She held his chin in her hand and kissed him. His door opened and Delia walked in.

Obviously Delia was surprised but neither Ephram nor Desi cared. Ephram just waved for Delia to leave, his face still attached to Desi's.

"Ephram…" Delia whined, getting over her shock. He just waved at her more violently. Delia sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Cory's spending the weekend with us," Delia said. Ephram's head snapped to look at Delia. His head moved so fast Desi let out a small cry of pain and held her fingertips to her lower lip. Ephram looked back at Desi briefly.

"Oh, sorry…"

"It's okay…" she murmured. Ephram's head snapped back to Delia.

"He's what?" he said getting off of his bed and walking over to his little sister.

"Star's going away for the weekend and she doesn't trust Cory to behave unsupervised…"

"You can't blame her for that…but… Dad agreed to this?" Ephram asked, half suspecting that Dr. Brown never had a choice in the matter, which he never really did. Delia nodded anyway.

"Yea. His plan is that if Star sees how well Dad can handle Cory and you and I, maybe she'll realize he doesn't need her help, and go back to Buffalo!" Delia said, excited by the idea. Delia loved her aunt, but, in small doses. Ephram looked horrified.

"What! They can't leave!" Ephram yelled. Delia looked at him surprised. Anyone debating Star Cather's leaving deserved a look of surprise. Ephram understood that and explained.

"If they leave, Orrie will leave, and where would Jig be?" Ephram asked her. Delia was still confused.

"Where she was before, with you," Delia told him. Ephram fell silent, staring at her. Even Desi was staring at her. Uncomfortable Delia spoke again.

"Anyway, Dad told me to tell you. I have to go make the bed in the guestroom…" she said and left, closing the door behind her.

Orrie walked out of his darkroom with a test strip laying in the tray he carried. He walked around the corner and was preparing himself for the bright light but instead he jumped upon finding his mother's towering silhouette.

"We need to talk," she told him and walked out of the light's path. Worriedly Orrie sighed, took a quick look at his test strip (needed a new filter), hung it up, and joined his mother.

Everyone who currently lived at the Harper house was out with the exception of Irv and the raccoon. Irv walked around the silent hallways of the house he had grown up in, the house he had raised his family in, the house he had a new family in. Having Mack in the house reminded Irv of Lily. Mack looked so much like his mother. The same smile, the same glint in the eyes. Irv and Edna loved each other partially because they both knew the pain of losing a spouse. Edna lost Hal, and Irv lost Maggie. They helped each other get through it. But there was something Irv had lost that Edna probably never would. Irv lost his daughter. His only child. His Lily. Irv had to see the look on his wife's face when she found out her child was dead. Irv loved Mack, Irv raised him. He raised him alone for the most part. At his age, he shouldn't have to be a single parent.

Irv turned around to find Ein following him. Irv smile and walked over to the raccoon. He picked the creature up and placed it on his shoulder. Ein held a firm grip to the cloth of Irv's shirt but not firm enough to hurt him. Irv walked them into the kitchen and cut an apple into slices. He gave one slice to Ein and placed the rest on a plate for later. Irv was actually a dog guy, but having a raccoon as a pet was interesting. Ein was like a cat and a dog, yet he still had this quirky sense of everything that probably came with being a raccoon. Irv was glad they had adopted Ein. He was glad Ein had adopted them, actually.

"I don't believe I'm doing this…" Amy said as the music began. She placed her hand on Jig's shoulder and placed her other hand in Jig's. They were in a large room surrounded by other couples in the same position, many girl-girl. The music started.

"You? I only volunteered to help paint the sets!" Jig told her. Amy grinned. Amy had heard they needed dancers for the senior play so she offered her services. Only it was waltzing, and Amy couldn't waltz. But, there weren't many people at school who could, so Ms. Baxworth was holding a grand scale waltzing lesson. Jig had been drafted from the scenery department. She couldn't waltz either.

"Amy! Jig! What beat are you on?" Ms. Baxworth yelled at them. They both stopped and looked at her. Some of the other kids laughed.

"Um, five?" Jig asked her. Ms. Baxworth frowned and some of the kids laughed again.

"You really don't dance much, do you?" Amy asked her. Jig shook her head.

"Well if either of you were paying attention, you'd know you were on the wrong beat! Now, if you please! You're grown ups now, people care if you fail."

"Sorry Ms. Baxworth…"

"Yea, sorry."

"Alright then. Doris hit play please!" Ms. Baxworth said and the music started again. Amy and Jig made sure they were dancing in beat before they started talking again.

"Why isn't Desi here? She can dance…" Jig asked.

"She's reviewing the play," Amy told her. Jig bit her lip.

"Oh yea. I wish I wrote for the newspaper…"

"Jig you're failing English…"

"Only by comparison."

"Yea, by comparison to the rest of the class!" Amy said and they both laughed slightly.

"Not everyone can be perfect like you Grover," Jig told her. Amy's smile faded softly, as so did Jig's.

"How's Colin doing anyway?" Jig asked her. Amy reinforced her smile.

"He's no worse, so that's good," Amy said. Jig smiled supportively.

"You don't mind that we kind of, stole Ephram from you, do you?" Jig asked her. Amy laughed slightly.

"No. He's happy, right?" Amy asked her. Jig nodded so Amy smiled.

"Well he deserves it. I don't think I made him very happy."

"You did when you smiled at him," Jig told her. Amy looked down at the floor.

"Well Desi has just been beaming around school. I don't think anyone's ever seen her this happy," Amy told her.

"You'll be happy like that again."

"I hope it's soon."

"It will be. Hey Amy…"

"Yea?"

"You're taller than me, so why am I leading?" Jig asked her. Amy then realized that Jig was a few inches shorter than she was.

"Must be the hair."