“Maybe so,” he teased, lying down and wrapping his body around mine. “The paper said they’re getting closer to a resolution.”

I groaned. “They’ve been saying that for the past week.”

Of all the strange things that had happened in Chicago over the years, the “Milk Wars” may have been the most bizarre. Over the summer, a group of around fifteen thousand dairy farmers started utilizing their union to angle for a better price for their milk. Distributers had denied their demands, saying the increase would be too rich for the public. By late September, the farmers voted to stop delivering milk to the city. As if that weren’t a strong enough message, they had broken the seals on five tankers and dumped nearly thirty thousand gallons of milk. Farmers who tried to take their milk through were assaulted. The authorities must have liked their cereal as much as I do because they attempted to stop the protests. In reaction, the farmers set fire to two bridges. A couple of weeks later, armed guards rode tankers into the city to ensure milk deliveries, but it hadn’t been enough to fulfill the needs. Violence was still breaking out sporadically and I was really fucking tired of eating dry cereal.

“I have a good feeling about it,” Cal assured, pushing a lock of hair off my forehead.

“You have a good feeling about everything, Wizard,” I laughed, pressing the heels of my hands against my eye sockets. “Fuck. You had a good feeling about the Cubs’ year too.”

“They did well, didn’t they?”

“No. You can’t say they did well when the season ended like it did,” I sighed. A twenty-one-game winning streak had culminated in the pennant and a severe increase in my blood pressure thanks to the commitment I had made to have Maks over to my home if they were to win the series. As expected, my fretting was for naught. The Cubs lost to the Detroit Tigers in a soul-crushing display of wasted talent. I didn’t know if I was more relieved or disgruntled. I think when it came down to it, I would have preferred if they had won, but unfortunately, I hadn’t been given a choice in the matter. The positive note was my secret was safe.