My Cardboard Balcony

I Lost Everything by Belinda Roddie The house, the car, even the cat. She took it all, and she dragged the kids, bawling with reddened eyes, out to the curb where our idling auto awaited. Five minutes to say goodbye to me before it was all over. I stood paralyzed in the doorway of my new ramshackle apartment, unable to speak, clusters of soup cans locked against my armpits because I had been preparing dinner. They had called me everything in the book while I was on the stand: A drunk, an abuser, a good-for-nothing negligent low-life. To any audience, I was not willing to tell the truth. I was only focused on the depleting temperatures outside, and the frost kicking me in the chin before I closed the door, and the sane, stable beeping of my phone as a text from my friend asked, "Want me to get a six-pack at the store?"

After winning first place in the science fair, Emma was beaming. She didn't pay attention to the groans from the second place winner, Todd, who mentally could have sworn that his experiment on batteries was a sure-fire victory. Instead, she walked to her mother to have the ribbon pinned to her shirt, getting a hug from her stepmother in the process. "Couldn't be prouder, hon," said her stepmother, "especially since you beat the little brat Todd!"