My Cardboard Balcony

Second Wedding Anniversary by Belinda Roddie Two wine glasses Two mushroom dishes Two tall flutes of champagne Let's multiply two by two hundred so I can always see you again

I certainly hope, my students, that you don't believe your actions are insignificant. That they're not...consequential, to use another word. You see, you have been told to sit still, keep your eyes down, and listen closely to any and all instructions. You have been told to speak only when you are spoken to, ordered to nod as confirmation and shake your head as denial. But I'm here to tell you that you can do more than that. You can speak. You can even scream.

"Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight..." "Really?" Horace chuckled. "The first star you see? Not the giant star to the north that's been out for, like, two hours?" "Dude, shut up. I'm trying to make a wish." "What wish? That your wooden puppet son becomes a real boy?" Maurice looked ready to slap Horace, but the meowing of their hungry cat stopped them from being slapstick-comedy-style violent.

by Belinda Roddie I never said I was a smart man. I never said I knew how to make proper executive decisions. The life I left behind was gilded, and I was tired of gold and silver. Now I realize how little I learned when it came to fending for myself once I pulled the pearl-handled spoon out of my mouth. I wanted pewter. I wanted tin and aluminum and just plain plastic. I surrounded myself with silicon to get it. And then I lost everything. The tower I was attempting to build was already a sloppy leaning mess of shrapnel. It collapsed like paper. I couldn't construct anything of my own without holding my father's withering, white hand. A hand that had reached rigor mortis fifteen years ago. I found my boyfriend in the dirty loins of a city that treated its denizens like tramps. He wore flannel, and he could have been carrying a bindle on a stick. I brought him back to the apartment I could barely pay for and nursed him back to health with ramen and tap water. He said he h...

This week, I yielded more yearbook power to my students and freaked out. I dealt with various questions about a unit project that were all answered by the instruction sheet and rubric I wrote and shared with my students. I came down with a cold that made me feel like I was hit by a train for two days. I had to withstand constant drama from the teenagers I work with. And had to manage a tense and stressed out staff. And had to find a way to balance out their demands with the demands of an adult volunteer with high expectations. And had to respond to countless aggressive messages from my students. And had to read the constant news about a potential rapist and emotional partisan hack becoming a Supreme Court justice because screw my country. And on top of that, I had to watch the ending of the Of Mice and Men film adaptation four times. Can I just... Can I just get a break? Can I just make breakfast with my wife tomorrow and go check out costumes that the local high ...

Halloween Spirit by Belinda Roddie We made out, and she had spiders on her tongue.