My Cardboard Balcony

I Cocked My Head by Belinda Roddie I cocked my head as I surveyed the scene - a man with a broken arm in the aisle, dozens of broken bottles, and a sheen of white across the floor's brown and black tile. I reached for my phone, but it wasn't there. I remembered I had left it at home because its battery was low. The hair on my head bristled as the poor man groaned from the pain of his splintered bone. I found a way to maneuver, without slipping, to where he was huddled by the long rows of soda and beer. I made a rough sling out of my shirt and bound his limp elbow so it would stay stiff. "I do what I can," I said. "I'm a decent Samaritan."

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In The Heart by Belinda Roddie In the heart of California, come swim in the sea. It pulses for you, and it pulses for me. Dip your heels into the salt and stick your tongue into the breeze, and once your sins are purged, come swim with me.

"Is something burning?" "Oh, shit!" Stefan bounded for the kitchen, his new sneakers slipping and sliding on the slightly less new wooden floor. His sister, Imani, laughed as she tossed another cloud of popcorn into her mouth. "This is why I should be the only one allowed to use the microwave," she declared between chews. "Because my dumbass brother can't seem to heat up pizza bites without causing a five-alarm disaster,:

A Modern Romance by Belinda Roddie I waited twenty minutes for her in the concave parking lot, a cement eye burning its gaze into the surface of the earth, attempting to drill its vision into the hot, steaming core of the underground. When she arrived, she was wearing a red leather jacket and offered me a stick of pink gum. It tasted like cinnamon. Of course. We poured each other drinks in my little hobbit hole, where the light barely shone in. Flecks of honeycomb were in my hair, spots of mead on my shirt. She was the urban lightning bolt to my calm, medieval summer day. A reminder of the reality outside my fantasy home. No dragons breathing fire overhead; only cars and motorcycles spewing rage instead.

"The deities have blessed me this fine morning!" crowed Louisa. "They have affirmed my life and happiness by allowing me to grace this earth for another year! And, if fortune and love permits it, they shall continue to smile upon me as I push through the mundane elements of my existence to find greater enlightenment and glory!" "Yeah, yeah, Happy Birthday to you," grumbled her husband. "Now are you going to eat some cake or what?"

After The Longest Day by Belinda Roddie She powdered her nose with a hue of dusty rose as the strawberry moon glowed with June honey, sweet heat from the edges of the sky. When she held my hand, I felt her dance pulse against my fingers, standing in front of the stronghold between dusk and dawn. Standing within the equilibrium of sunset and sunrise, two spoonfuls of gold doled into our salivating mouths. This was the solstice in full bloom, the petals heavy with the welcome evening dew. This was the solstice in dusty rose, pinks and purples across the celestial palette. This was the beginning and end of seasons, the stain of change like blackberries in our fists. The bioluminescence of our bodies on full display. This was the empire of summer.