My Cardboard Balcony

by Belinda Roddie Marv noticed that something was terribly wrong with the baby. It started with the diaper changing. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof. The baby could eat and eat and eat and nothing could come out. No massive stains or stink. While that perhaps was a minor relief for Marv, his wife reminded him that this could be something much more dangerous. So he took the baby to the hospital, where Doctor Oswald told him that all was normal and didn't seem to take the situation too seriously. The couple went through everything - scans, X-rays, even a look into the baby's intestines for blockage. But the lack of negative symptoms alone were enough to make the doctor say that perhaps the two were overreacting. They weren't overreacting. But no doctor in all of Sonoma County seemed to want to listen. A week after the initial anomaly, Marv was doing his usual midnight check-in on the baby when he noticed the bumps on his head. They were perfectly symmetrical -

The smell of warm chocolate chip scones enticed Freddy as she traipsed her way into the small Irish bakery. Within glass display cabinets, she could see sausage rolls, curry pie, and Irish brown bread. It all made her mouth water as she traced her fingers along the glass, not noticing the shopkeeper approaching her with alarming speed.