My Cardboard Balcony

'Tis The Season by Belinda Roddie The marshmallows are warm and sticky between my fingers. The chocolate is melting against my teeth. Here we are again by the fire while the rain arrives on the patio, each of us with a different Christmas song stuck in our heads.

Once a fun, engaging experience, Mister Charleton's math class had stagnated into a cold, monotonous part of the day, the stillness of the room proof enough that all the livelihood had been sucked away from the air as if slurped through a wide, noisy straw. And every student knew why. It was no secret that Charleton's husband, the ever charming and jovial Alan Schmidt, had left him after fifteen years, having participated in multiple affairs behind the poor man's back.