Meredith is staring out her office window, looking across the expanse of the quad, the students laughing and milling about, celebrating the end of the semester.

Meredith turns to me. She’s crying. She has an expression that is the absolute dead-on representation of dread.

“Is everything okay?” I say.

“The grass, Sack, it’s so long all of the sudden. Didn’t you just cut it?”

“Yes, just a few days ago. It looks like it’s growing faster than usual. I wanted to ask actually if we could switch to a different landscape design, a wild design? Also, I wanted to ask for this Friday and next Monday, and maybe Tuesday, off. For a family matter.”

“Sure. Whatever.” She turns back to the window.

“Okay, thanks,” I say. That was too easy. “Wait, to which one, the new landscape or the days off?”

“They seem synergistic to me, Sack.”

“Right.” I’m not sure I know what that means.