My Cardboard Balcony

Trouble Maestro by Belinda Roddie The trouble maestro likes to live in a teapot and scare all the fairy tales rodents away. He quickens curmudgeons' heart aneurysms just to shake laughter from people who are less sympathetic. He's lord of the mischief that grows sticky painful, not pleasantly sugary to taste or to smell. So watch for the maestro. He's friendless and cranky, and he'll piss in your shoes and slap you with knuckles before you shake off the odor.

People tell other people what they're destined to be. They pick up a paintbrush, and they're destined to be the lovechild of Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet. They practice a pirouette, and they're destined to replicate Nureyev's finesse. Everything else is slapped onto the forearm like a sticker or stamp with FATE in big, fat letters. But in the end, how many destinies are we allowed to have in one life?