My Cardboard Balcony

I Baked A Cheesecake by Belinda Roddie I baked a cheesecake for the party, while Joe prepared a monstrous toad in the hole that could feed a family of eight. "I'll eat it all if you don't hide it!" I told him as he pulled it from the oven. We arrived at the party dressed in such grand colors to complement the royal theme. Our friends were all draped in raiment, kings and queens and jesters. "Eat, drink, and be merry!" Bailey cried. We raised goblets and gold spoons and dined heartily (Yes, I was happy to see the cheesecake eaten). Joe said, "Soon, we'll have to dance like in a Shakespeare play. I could do this kind of thing ev'ry day!"

My mother has literally thrown the television set out the window. I have seen it splinter into plastic and glass fragments on the pavement below, very nearly hitting a homeless man as he slunk by with his garbage bag-filled shopping cart, one wheel squeaking harmoniously with the evening traffic. From a distance, I can see the wires of the television, gaping, from its now freshly opened mouth. Reds and blacks and whites, all clustered around flame - bronze flame.