This is a stand-alone story about Vivian Hannity, who appears in the Paradise Theater serial as Miranda's roommate. In this story, she is six years younger than she was in the previous work. I am also writing another story about Vivian and Miranda, which takes place in the summer of 1977, about a month before Paul appears on the scene. Any views that the main character holds about the Catholic Church are to be seen as hers alone.
Every 17 years like clockwork hordes of cicadas show up. Quentin and MaryAnne have a baby pear tree, and if they don't protect it, the cicadas will ruin it. Quentin buys yards of black mesh to drape over the tree, but before draping the tree, he and MaryAnne decide to test it on themselves. Illustrated.
Des and Kathy are finding that their love life is becoming a bit predictable. To buck things up a bit, they plan some date nights of experimenting with fresh ideas. They have limited success until Graham comes along and a new dimension is added.
An innocent, young newspaper reporter goes to interview a hardened military retiree. She gets the interview she had wanted, but in the process finds out what she really wanted was a new life.