A song about what a girl needs to do when she has leaving on her mind came on the radio while she read.

And then a song about what a girl should do with a guy who’s dead weight came on.

And then a song about what a woman needs to do to restart her heart came on.

And then some commercials came on.

By then, Marvalyn had finished the article on how to have a marvelous life. It was mostly about how important it is to exercise and eat better. And to limit your alcohol intake. And to stop smoking if you smoke. And to start following your bliss and pursuing your dreams.

Marvalyn thought that maybe it was time for her to start pursuing her dreams again. But she had no idea how to go about doing so.

So she thought maybe she’d try following her bliss first. But she didn’t know what her bliss was. Which is sad for a young woman whose last name is LaJoy.

So she decided that, first, she was going to work on exercising and eating better.

Which she would do after she started limiting her alcohol intake.

Which she would do after she stopped smoking.

Which she would do after she had one more cigarette.

She had about twenty-five more minutes, she guessed, before her clothes would be dry, so she dragged the magazine off the dryer and shuffled over to the bookshelf and dumped it where she had gotten it. And went outside and sat on the front porch and smoked the last cigarette she would ever smoke and looked out over the potato fields of Norsworthy’s Potato Farm. And took in the sky. And the stars. And wished upon a couple of them. And took a few more drags on her cigarette. And thought about how that cigarette really did need to be the last one she ever smoked. Because she needed to start taking better care of herself so she could be marvelous, like the YOU! magazine article said.

Then she thought about maybe going to Sandrine St. Pierre’s bachelorette party at the Moose Paddy. It’d be going strong, she bet. And it’d be fun, she bet. And a lot of her friends would be there, she bet. And she hadn’t seen her friends much lately.

But she didn’t want to go to Sandrine St. Pierre’s bachelorette party without telling Eric she was going. Because that would make him mad.

And she didn’t want to wake him and ask him if he minded if she went, because that would make him mad, too.

So she decided to just stay home.

She could read the rest of the YOU! magazine once she finished her laundry. There was an article about getting the right pair of jeans and how they could make you look ten pounds lighter. Marvalyn wondered if there were jeans that could make her look twenty pounds lighter.

Or forty.

She finished her cigarette and wondered if she’d gain more weight if she stopped smoking.