My Cardboard Balcony

This Empty House by Belinda Roddie This empty house is where I lived for more than twenty years with you - the deed was signed just days after our wedding. Here, we bore our children, and here, our stars aligned, or so I thought they did, to make our lives the best that they could ever be. Birthdays and Christmases were under this roof. Drives to vacation spots and to baseball games started from this street. On the second floor was our bedroom, the curtains always drawn, where we kept all our secrets. I long for so many more years here, but you've been gone for months now. The kids have grown up. I've tried to fix this, but our love in this house died.

"Jesus, Will!" cried Garth from his seat by the window, his eyes bugging out as he looked out over the ranch. "How many horses does your family have?" Willa smiled with flecks of bacon in her teeth as the rest of us quietly continued our meals. "Enough," she replied. "They all have names, too. My ma handles 'em better than my pa does. Ever wanna ride one?"