My Cardboard Balcony

I have work tomorrow (still enjoying the job and the people I work with), I'm seeing my sister's play tomorrow night, and I'm moving into a new apartment with my sister and my girlfriend on Sunday. Yeah...no real introspection tonight, guys. Sorry. Captain Cop-out strikes again! But for what it's worth, have a great night and a great weekend, everyone.

Walnut Avenue by Belinda Roddie Three years ago, I was walking to the liquor store on the corner of Walnut and Glassell when I saw a young, crazed man walk out of a house and smash his guitar into pieces. It was the typical black and white Fender – a Stratocaster, I could only guess – and he swung it into the pavement like a riled up rock star during a wild stadium concert. He kept swinging until he was only holding the snapped neck, and even then he continued to slam the remains into the ground, letting the fretboard split in his hands, the strings stretched taut as he tossed the fragments aside. A girl watched him the whole time from the doorway, blonde and puffy-eyed and looking more than a little numb. As the man turned away from the wreckage and headed back into the house, she let her hand stray for his arm. But he pushed it aside and disappeared into the shadows of the ramshackle shelter. The whole time, he was completely silent. I don’t remember much a...

"Please be sensible." "I am being sensible!" "No, you're not," retorted Ben's sister. "In fact, you're being the opposite of sensible. And it needs to change." "I want to go out for a beer with friends. Is that so hard?" "Yes!" his sister snapped. "Because you spend forty dollars at the end of the night and then refuse to buy groceries!"

My Cousin Stole My Candy by Belinda Roddie My cousin stole my candy after I had finished trick-or-treating. I caught him eating my peanut butter cups outside the bathroom and was ready to punch him right in the nose. My mother, spotting me, reprimanded the both of us and made sure to buy me replacement candy while my cousin surely made plans to, again, filch sweets from me. I would not let that slide - I had worked too hard on my costume, and Halloween was a special holiday for me. So once I got more candy, I not only hid it, but also installed a special device to shock the thief's balls.

I was ready to put the eggs into the incubator when my father stomped in, purple in the face and noticeably sweating from the sideburns down, soaking his neck with his own sea salt. "Forget chicks," he wheezed, wiping his steaming chin with his sleeve. "Your mother wants an omelet, stat." I stared. "Pregnancy cravings?" "A huge fucking omelet!" my father gasped. "Fucking STAT!"

Pirate's Gratitude by Belinda Roddie She doffed her hat to the hook-handed lieutenant, who eyed her cautiously, unwavering, as he bore more scars and had lost more limbs than most of her crew. The buccaneers stood looking on, drinking from barrels and praying that they'd avoid scurvy, their boots dredged in brine and their open wounds still bleeding from the barrage. But the lieutenant was letting them go, and the captain, smiling, waved a thank you as she returned to her ship and left a feather from her hat floating toward the officer's remaining, steel-like fingers.

What a cinematic touch to an otherwise mundane day. The way you ran to me in the rain outside the grocery store. The smell of chai tea still lingering on your barista apron, as you hastily wiped away coffee grounds from your blackened fingers. The way I stared at you from beneath my blue umbrella, tattered at the edges after my dog got his teeth on it. You kissed me in the rain. Only the kiss was kind of soggy, and we laughed too much.