My Cardboard Balcony

A Real Fairy Tale by Belinda Roddie The dragon sneezes, and out comes glitter. The pixies sleep at noon. Every gnome brings a rose to their careless king who can't help dancing in his own garden, cracking the stone beneath his boots, shredding his skin on the thorns and bristles. I was a knight defending your honor, m'lady, and you fell in love with my daughter. You made me a cauldron of stew that turned my hair into the most appalling shade of the sea, and I've never been back to your castle since.

The little old man was on his seventh bottle of beer, and I was only on my third and feeling the effects on my body - the clouded vision, the rocking gait, the growing difficulty of sitting upright on my stool. As the little old man pushed away his empty stein, the bartender seemed happy to refill it. But he waved her off. "That's enough for today," he said. "Tomorrow, you'll see me again."