[15]

[15]

Dear Harmony,

   Lemonade was your favorite drink. You never liked too much sugar in it, though, and I always liked it sweet. Today was so hot, I had to vent your bedroom by opening the windows. The air was still so it didn't really help much, and the cicadas were obnoxiously loud. Your mom brought me lemonade, but it didn't have much sugar in it. She was out of sugar, and these days one cannot head to the store without being bombarded with questions.

   Questions about you.

   Do you see, Harmony, all the trouble you have caused and the unwanted attention you have attracted to your family? Some have rumored that you were murdered and eaten by cannibals. At this point I can't blame them for eating you, if that's what happened.

   I'd have eaten you if I were a cannibal, but I'm a civil man. But I'm sure you tasted like that lemonade—sour and putrid.

   Your memory is losing its saccharinity.