Fiction and Drama Gillian Linden Relax, it’s just some weather Morgan Patten, Gas on the Pedal . 2024, acrylic on canvas. 11 × 14". Courtesy of the artist. E arly Monday and the children still asleep, the garage filled with bags of paper plates and pizza crusts that my husband had piled into a corner before leaving for the city. I’d received text messages and emails thanking me for the party — Such a pleasure . . . Lovely night . They were being polite, of course, but I liked to think there was some truth to it. If so, it would be due to the qualities of a summer evening, the sky turning lavender, the lawn becoming cool. Or it was Dorothy, our celebrity nun, who had arrived early and left late. Or it was the children, forming a group that moved from the swing set to the edge of the woods to the young willow, commandeering an ice bucket, shedding clothing, and cultivating a sense of abandon. I stepped outside, bringing the dog with me.…