My Cardboard Balcony

It's almost Christmas. It's almost Christmas. It's almost Christmas. IT'S ALMOST FRIGGIN' CHRISTMAS. FORGET INTROSPECTION. I'M BEING FESTIVE.

"Caramel Kisses" is an unfinished novel I began to write back in 2009 and stopped working on in 2010. The two main characters - Adriana Maguire Reynard and Emma Burking - would ultimately be revised for my later completed novella, "The Liffey Is Half-Asleep," in 2011. Several elements of "Liffey" can be found in their original forms in "Caramel Kisses," such as the characters' names, the haiku scene, and Adriana's penchant for writing.  Because of its influence on my later writing, I figured that this story, though incomplete, was worth sharing. Caramel Kisses: Chapter Five by Belinda Roddie One night we decided to get Indian food. We drove up to Novato, that strange little suburb. Oh, how I had missed thee. The night before it had been take-home Chinese and we had eaten it in my cramped living room because I had been at your condo the week before, and while we were downing chow mein and Mongolian beef, we thought that maybe we coul...

If I were a car, I'd break down right in the middle of a wasteland, and I'd breathe oily fumes so strong that the nearest town could smell the toxins and feel it churning up the acids in their stomach. I'd have an owner who'd curse and scream and kick my tires a few times with a heavy leather boot, then throw a reception-less phone at the hills while scraping her pockets for a spare cigarette.