My Cardboard Balcony

Hi, guys. I know normally the drill for me is to have a fun little story for you based on a friend or family member's prompt. However, circumstances in my life and my hometown have convinced me that it's one of those nights when I have to take a break and remember someone who was a real ray of sunshine in a lot of people's lives. So this isn't a story about fictional characters. This is a short but sweet story about a real and wonderful person who we lost way too soon. Kozette Rushton - a loving creator, jewelry designer, wife, mother, volunteer, and entertainer - died on August 25th from a malignant brain tumor at the age of 61. While we were not particularly close as I got older, Kozette played an extraordinarily important role in my early creative life, being the main coordinator of the San Ramon Elementary School Talent Show for several years. I clearly remember the way she smiled and laughed as she handled hundreds of elementary school-aged students in choreo...

Was Aunt Lucy overjoyed to see her son after so many years of his being missing in action? It's difficult to say, in retrospect. I remember her sitting up in her bed, the faint waspish curls of gray hair falling from where they had clustered up around her forehead. Her eyes dilated somewhat at the sight of the thirty-something man in front of her - half-flesh, half-metal now, with rods in his legs and bolts in his arms. She stretched out her fingers somewhat, and at that point, I swear, she recognized someone else besides her caretaker.