July, Chapters 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 Summary

One of the girls in the Sewing Circus, Aretha, stops in to see Joyce but finds Ava home alone. This girl is a particular favorite of Joyce's, because Aretha seems to have common sense in spite of the fact that she has been orphaned and alone for several years. Aretha has hopes of attending Interlochen, a private school for the arts, and is the only girl in the Sewing Circus who does not have a child of her own. Ava also sees a spark in the girl and encourages her hopes for further education; she even offers to send her off to school with a stylish new haircut.

The summer is relatively peaceful and therapeutic for Ava until the day she must go to the drug store to pick up her prescriptions, which have been phoned in from a...