My Cardboard Balcony

Sorcerer's S'mores by Belinda Roddie recipe requires a fluffy package of pearl marshmallows to set with gooey comfort in graham shelters, crumbling at the pinwheels of flame erupting from the hearth's dragon and a great gaggle of youths rolling stones, cracking jokes, and swinging wooden swords while a maiden turns knight in cardboard armor with melted chocolate around her marble mouth.

"I'm not particularly keen on rare steak." Mrs. Hammers dolloped on the bloody slabs of meat anyway, staining Caitlin's plate a bright mosaic of red and pink. I swished around my scalloped potatoes and kept close focus on Mr. Hammers' furious mouth. "Kids these days. They want their steaks well cooked, they want their eggs over easy...where did we go wrong?"