Hard Time

“When we’re born, we’re sentenced to, like, life. And some of us—I’d be a prime example—are made to do hard time."

So says Annie Ireland, sentenced to a life of trying to live up to her parents’ never-ending expectations. For a long time the only person she can count on for unconditional support is her best friend, Arby, known to the horror and delight of many as “The Roach Boy.”

And then Pantagruel Primo, Esquire, comes into Annie’s life, and just like that, she has another friend, this on...