Two: June

June had been orphaned in July. His father was working in the tool shed when it exploded in a spreading plume of splinter and fire. The wind carried the fire to the orchard and the main house. The neighbors found his mother's bones near the well pump between the stubs of lemon trees. June had not been home. His parents had sent him to Engineers School for the summer. Although his family did not have the monies for tattoos or infectia, June had tested well. School had been rigorous and lonely. June ate alone in firm standing outside the lines of privilege and alteration.