Paxton shook his head. As the compartment vented the mist, he saw Griggs unfolding himself from the floor, and bent to help.
"You OK, buddy?"
"Yeah." Griggs looked around the tiny room. "Where are we now?"
Paxton checked the readout. "Friday, again. Come on man — let's go save last weekend."
FRIDAY, JULY 10:
Several Tampa and Plant City men were arrested in an investigation that uncovered a series of thefts of high-end merchandise by the people driving the delivery trucks. Among them was a former cop and current pastor with Tampa ministry. Authorities speculate his former occupations helped him both to evade the law for a while, and to help assuage himself of any guilt he felt about his new gig.
The Florida Department of Health reports that suicide rates are on the rise in Hillsborough County and across Florida in general. This has nothing to do with a particular millionaire robber baron's gutting of statewide mental-health resources, and if you think so, you should probably see a mental-health professional, but you can't, because oh, right.
A Hillsborough Community College public safety officer was arrested after an hours-long standoff on multiple sex-crimes charges. Nothing about this sounds the least bit publicly safe.
SATURDAY, JULY 11:
A new count shows homelessness is on the decline in Pasco County. This is apparently the result of a dedicated effort on the part of local government, and not just because, you know, not even the homeless want to live in Pasco County (ZING!).
SUNDAY, JULY 12:
In this weekend's FlagWatch(tm), thousands showed up in Ocala to support the return of the Confederate battle flag. Who's not "the real South" NOW, Mississippi? Huh?!
And finally, a Miami company has submitted an application to drill for oil in the Everglades. When asked if they were worried about pushback from environmentalists and sane people, the company said "na na na, we can't hear you over all the kickback money we're spending."
Macy's truck photo by Nickolas Eckhart via Flickr, reproduced in accordance with Creative Commons license.
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2015.