My Cardboard Balcony

Snapshot Of A Day by Belinda Roddie A pinch, a purch', a Hawaiian shirt, a new sun hat to match your skirt. Green geckos licking juice off of maraschinos while the sunset in Wailua is left in the lurch. One drink, two drinks, pineapple and rum, a tang left in your mouth for the hours to come. It's too bad that the Giants lost by just one run. Let me kiss you so I can taste the booze on your tongue.

No update on the OneWord website today. Oh, well!

Mahalo by Belinda Roddie We heard it on the plane, and in the airport, and at the restaurant where we binged on tangy ahi poke and mango guacamole. That simple word of gratitude you sometimes hear over a Mai Tai or two. A custom that holds warmth in its vowels similar to the way that the heat is cradled in the island breeze. We heard it when we got our rented car, when we checked in to our hotel room. We sure as Hell didn't hear it when a rooster refused to step off the road - this was his domain! And yet I felt the only way I could say anything back was with the simple phrase I had practiced all my life: Thank you. Perhaps, during this honeymoon, that will be appropriate, and charming, enough.

There were going to be changes to the city plan, the mayor told the crowd via Facebook Live that day. Changes that no one wanted, but everyone needed. Changes that involved taxes and spending cuts, deficits and surpluses, and all that economic jingle-jangle that the mayor did not expect the citizenry to fully understand. Leslie Sherwood certainly understood, though. As a world-renowned economics professor who had grown up in this city, she was incensed by what she deemed "inane witchcraft and wizardry."

They say that the queen bathed in the blood of her enemies, which she vocally repudiated almost immediately. "Complete and utter nonsense," she quipped over a bowl of leek and potato soup, which had been lovingly made by her adoring chef. "And quite clichéd, too, given the accusations I receive. Has anyone thought about how unsanitary such a practice is? I can hardly stand looking at a nosebleed." "Still tough as nails, though," replied her son, the prince, and the queen chuckled and nodded in agreement.

No Storyteller today. My excuse: I got married. I think I'm justified, no?

No One Word today. Excuse: I got married. I think I'm justified, no? UPDATE:  Also, the site didn't even update with a new prompt today! I'm off the hook! HUZZAH!