My Cardboard Balcony

Seven Scarves For Julie by Belinda Roddie Julie wore the black scarf for the weekdays, wrapped against her neck and tucked under her chin, her smile still beaming in the frost. She changed it up a bit on weekends, switching from red to green to gold to blue to white. She had six colorful scarves, a bundle of rainbow mirth. But usually, she wore the black scarf. When her boyfriend dragged her out of bed one night to see the stars above the gray canvas circus tents erected for the summer, Julie wore the black scarf out of habit, but once they had perched themselves on the balcony rail, he offered her a seventh scarf - a tie-dyed one that, he claimed, he colored himself. And when Julie commented on how long it was, her boyfriend replied, "In that case, we'll wear it at the same time, so we can both be warm, together, even in the frost."

Bishop and Troy appeared to be on the same wavelength when it came to strategy, but in the end, it was Nichole who had the most solid tactics laid out on the table, literally and figuratively. All three of them knew, despite the obliviousness of their comrades bunched in the corners of the room, that there was no way they could infiltrate the facility in any other way besides brute force. "Security breach mechanisms are everywhere in that stronghold," said Bishop, "and trying to disguise as anything would be like making people believe you're a ghost by putting a sheet over your head."

When there's no one around, I confide in my bedpost, or the glossy old photographs taped to my mirror. Sometimes, I find faces in the notches of wood, where a smile looks more natural than on real skin. I drape my arms over the mattress and think, "If I rub hard enough, maybe all of this static electricity will wake up my brain and my heart, and I'll be able to dance again. Probably not, though." Everything's icy as early as noon. And everything's hot when I try to sleep.

by Belinda Roddie "Shakespeare hated  pie. That is a fact." "Which book did you read that from?" "The book of everything." When I wrinkled my nose in skepticism, she brought out the bright red tome and pointed me to the proper page. "Ah. There it is. Doesn't mean it's true." "Yes, it is. You know what's also true?" I rolled my eyes. "What, hon?" "Shakespeare fucking loved cheesecake." "...They didn't have cheesecake back in his era." " They fucking should have!" she screamed in response. This week's prompt was provided by Arden Kilzer.

Donovan sported his brown derby hat while watching his girlfriend at the roller derby, a Victorian appearance at an otherwise neon-helmeted, striped-shoulder pad event. As he watched the girls race around the rink, wheels squeaking as they maneuvered, he heard a rough voice behind him ask, "Where's Holmes, Doctor Watson?"

My handful of readers, I am happy to announce that, on this welcome rainy night, I am taking on a special project with my girlfriend and my sister. No, it is not like any writing project I have taken on. It is not a film, or a novel, or a wild collection of poems. And while my girlfriend has requested that I keep this all on the DL until things are started and finalized, I can safely say that I am very, very excited about it. Considering my low number of hours at the bookstore, my struggle with teaching credential programs, and other attempts at finding things to do or work on, I'm glad that something, with a little inspiration from a college acquaintance, has sprung up to build my creativity and enthusiasm. And I sincerely hope that when we roll this baby out it will be well-received and garner interest in more than just one community. And that's all I'm going to say about it. No spoilers. Shhhh. Writer's Quotation of the Night: Any writer worth his salt writ...

"Caramel Kisses" is an unfinished novel I began to write back in 2009 and stopped working on in 2010. The two main characters - Adriana Maguire Reynard and Emma Burking - would ultimately be revised for my later completed novella, "The Liffey Is Half-Asleep," in 2011. Several elements of "Liffey" can be found in their original forms in "Caramel Kisses," such as the characters' names, the haiku scene, and Adriana's penchant for writing. Because of its influence on my later writing, I figured that this story, though incomplete, was worth sharing. Caramel Kisses: Chapter Twelve by Belinda Roddie I went to church this morning, while Emma was still asleep. The first time in five years. I had gone to a Wednesday mass on campus when I was still a student, but I didn’t think those really counted toward the main tally God supposedly kept for all of His alleged followers. But staying up through a Saturday night had gotten to my religious side,...