Artemis: A Review

By Campbell Walker 

Once again, Andy Weir is here to put fingers to keys and transport a reader into a plausible, grounded, and endlessly entertaining thrill-ride of a narrative. Having read his latest novel, Project Hail Merry, as well as his debut, The Martian, I can say Artemis fits perfectly in the gap between those stories. 

We find our protagonist, Jazz Bashara, in the lunar city of Artemis, secretly smuggling illicit goods to wealthy occupants as a side hustle. What seems to be crime-noir eventually morphs into espionage and eventually heroism.

 Jazz is an extremely likeable character, consistently poking fun at the situations presented and outsmarting those that obstruct her goals. A character such as Jazz has the potential to come off as uptight or pretentious, but Weir adeptly swerves around that common mistake with humor and relatability. She’s capable, yet still retains that emotional wiggle room that makes the more heartfelt scenes connect with the reader. Her choices throughout the novel, whilst occasionally chaotic, have genuine thought behind them, accompanied by the hard science that Weir excels at. The perspective in which the novel is told is also fitting, with Jazz occasionally breaking the fourth wall and attempting to guess what the reader may be thinking. It’s the combination of these elements that makes for a suitably excellent protagonist, and I’d expect no less from an author who seems to thrive with character building.

The central narrative of Artemis is an interweaving one, with many plot threads and subtle notes to hang onto. When the story begins, you get the necessary exposition you need, then are thrown into the city to experience its protectors, administrators, commoners, and delinquents. Without spoiling much, Jazz slowly unravels a conspiracy that gets continuously more interesting and inventive the more you read, culminating in a thrill-ride of a third act. Roughly half way through the novel you reach a point where it becomes difficult to put down, the page number rising despite what seems like mere minutes passing. It holds your attention with in-depth and intricately written scientific detail whilst steering you along its tracks. Weir seems to excel at this structure, never missing a beat even in the more relaxed and quiet moments.

Setting-wise, Artemis is rich with character. Throughout the novel, you’re introduced to its districts, shops, cultures, activities, operations, procedures, and technology. It all feels extremely real, nothing stands out as a red flag or potential plot hole. It’s clear the Weir spent a considerable amount of time concepting the city, and it sure shows. Every aspect is meticulously constructed, and the people, the people feel effortlessly tangible with motivations, goals, and unique personalities. Weir also consistently reminds the reader of lunar gravity and its effects on practically everything, as well as the complex pressure system that keeps the occupants living. Never once did I feel I had to stretch my definition of reality to fit the environment, the places depicted simply come to life in your head even with minimal detail.

In closing, and wow, did I not want to close this book. Weir’s done it once more. Artemis seamlessly and effortlessly blends science and a fast moving narrative into a singular cohesive package, and it just works.

The Blur

My days are made up of hurry,

busy, rush, and worry.

Life is living me, and

I dream of being free.

Free of fast and tracking time,

free of working for a dime.

Hustle, bustle, go, go, go,

taking time, I do not know.

Days, weeks, months flee quickly by,

no matter how hard that I try,

to savor each and every bit,

more and more, I cannot fit.

I dream of days, slow and calm,

ones without a single qualm.

Love and kindness fill the air,

patient, tender, always fair.

Holding hands, we will explore,

the world, it offers so much more.

Splendor, fun, and learning too,

limitless things that we could do.

More time with loved ones we would share,

soaking in the moments with special care.

This life I dream, may not be,

achieved until eternity.

- Michelle Penland

The Absolutely True Diary: A Review

By Tedros Cartwright

"The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" was written by Sherman Alexie and published by Little, Brown, and Company in 2007. I first noticed the two drawings on the cover which leads me to expect more drawings in the actual book. I see this as a sign of a creative writer appealing to my liking for drawing.

To sum the book up, it starts off with an Indian boy who grows up on a reservation overcrowded with other Indians. The protagonist is Arnold who is born with “water on the brain.” He ends up going to an all-white school where he gains new experiences and develops a whole new perspective to life. He finds some kind of love, gets bullied and overcomes it, etc. The classic new kid at school hook. At the end of it all, he manages to fit in even though everyone knows where he comes from and his living situation and makes some really good unexpected friendships. Arnold’s family consists of his mother, father, grandma, and sister who leaves the family to get married after Arnold leaves the rest to go to an all white school. It is as if she is trying to one up him. They are generally poor but manage to get by. ”

Despite having health conditions, Arthur goes throughout the book without experiencing too many life-threatening situations. He has a best friend called Rowdy who is the polar opposite of him. He is athletic, dumb and rough. Despite their differences they get along until Arnold switches schools. They end up fighting for most of the book and go against each other during basketball. Arnold manages to overcome Rowdy and beat him in basketball during the final high school game. He is upset at first but they manage to make up. This book reminds me of the series "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," which I would recommend.

I have read my fair share of first-person books so I can point out what I think is valid and not. What makes this a decent book to me is that it allows me to understand a story from another person's point-of-view. One thing that I find disappointing throughout the novel is the amount of unexplored opportunities for a juicier plot. All in all, I would not recommend this book to a first-time reader as I feel that it would be a bad example of first-person books. However, I do enjoy it and would read the book again. I can now say after reading this book that I know what it’s like to be a “part-time Indian.”

One of Us Is Lying: A Review

    In a high school murder mystery, someone dies during detention and everyone starts to blame

the others.

    One Of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus is a book about high schoolers who are in the sight of a murder that

happened during their detention. The book has a great suspense build when the reader is trying

to figure out who the killer is. Although the student killed, died from a peanut allergy, the police

believe foul play was involved. The other four are all hiding something they don’t what others to

know, this is slowly revealed over the period of the book. The middle of the book is a slow

suspense-building part, I feel as most people would have stopped reading during this time

because it is a little too slow, but is like climbing over a roller coaster, a slow start but a quick

ride down. The ending of the book really caught me off guard as I wasn’t expecting it at all, an

amazing plot twist that made me gasp. Overall, this book is worth reading, if you’re really

interested in this genre you could knock it out within in a week.

-Alexis Sharp

JHHS students write more than 700,000 words in November challenge

 

Penelope Loy wrote 31,325 words 

during the November National Write a Novel Month challenge.

Abi Moore wrote 15,546 words.

Tiffany Huang wrote 11,895.

Nicholas Machado wrote 11,111.

Silvana Bislimi wrote 8,953.

Michael Howard wrote 4,528.

If you see these top writers, give them a high-five!

 And congratulations to all 126 students who participated in National Write a Novel Month.

If not for you, for me

Never leave 

Lost in dark

Can't escape

Desperate to comprehend 

Survive the lure 

Envy destruction 

Mourn the chaos

Blame the crashing guilt and cruel brutally 

Question your broken worth and dangerous manipulations 

But….

DO NOT GIVE IN

Live

If not for you,

For me 

In desperation and confusion

When darkness is caving in

DO NOT GIVE IN

Live 

If not for you,

For me 

When pain becomes too much to bear

And you think vanishing will bring relief 

DO NOT GIVE IN

Live

If not for you,

For me 

Your life is precious whether you think it is or not 

And I know you need me but I need you just as much

So….

LIVE

If not for you…..

For me 

-Becca Holloway

Ode to Bubbles: A character review

“ Ain't nothing wrong with holding on to grief. As long as you make room for other things too.”

By Tristan Pagan

"The Wire" is a show about sleezy people doing bad things to line their pockets with money and good people being forced to compromise on their values. The show has often been acclaimed for its grey morality and it lacking a hero in the traditional sense. You could say the hero is McNulty, who we follow for all five seasons and is always actively hunting the drug dealers in the show, but he is an active womanizer motivated as much by his own ego as catching the bad guys.

Omar, the Robinhood figure, adheres to a strict code of killing no innocent people but murders several drug dealers throughout the show and keeps all the money.

Every character on the show has their flaws. One character overcomes them: Reginald “Bubbles” Cousins.

Bubbles starts the show as a drug addict. We meet him when he and his friend Johnny are coming up with a scheme to use fake money to pay for drugs. This scheme works the first time but the second time it gets his friend Johnny beat up and put in the hospital. That is where he is approached by his friend Kima to work as an informant to help bring down the gang that beat up Johnny. The way Bubbles is introduced is genius because it shows that Bubbles is not just a drug addict. His money scam is pretty smart as he makes sure there is real money mixed in with the fake. He shows this intellect throughout the series. He shows an emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit by selling stolen t-shirts and other items to people. His drug addiction is not something that happened because he was too dumb to work a normal job. He cares about Johnny enough to keep him out of harm's way and becomes an informant just to get revenge on the people who beat him up.

Bubbles is also a people person who suffers more than most characters in the series. There is a scene where McNulty takes Bubbles along with him while he picks up his kids and Bubbles attempts to shake hands with McNulty's ex wife but she refuses to shake hands with him and gives him a dirty look.

Viewers know Bubbles is a decent person who is struggling with addiction, but society doesn’t and ultimately doesn’t care about Bubbles. They see him as nothing but a dope fiend. Which leads to his rock bottom.

In Season 4, Bubbles adopts a kid named Sherrod, another homeless addict. After Sherrod overdoses, Bubbles turns himself into the police and confesses to a murder.

In one of the saddest scenes in the series he tells one of the cops there that he took care of Sherrod because he thought he could be a father to him and wanted to convince himself that he was a better person than he was. He wanted to convince himself that he wasn’t another dope fiend.

In Season 5, Bubbles has gotten sober. He lives with his sister and works selling newspapers and in a soup kitchen.

Worth noting is Bubbles' relationship with his sister. He lives with her but she makes it a rule that he must live in the basement and leave the house when she is not around. It makes sense why his sister would want to be at arm's length with him. At one point, he sold all her silverware to get money for drugs.

But for all the bad stuff that happens in the show, Bubbles stays sober throughout Season 5. In the finale scene, we see him go upstairs out of the basement to have dinner with his family. His sister trusts him now.

In the end, Bubbles is the hero of the show not because he helps people, but because he overcomes being an addict and becomes a better person. The show is about institutions failing people and people trying to change but failing. But Bubbles does change and is one of the few characters who gets an unambiguously happy ending. He defies the odds and shows us that even at rock bottom we can still improve ourselves.

If I were a rich man ...

Q: “If you were absurdly rich, what selfish luxuries would you invest in?”

-Ashley Flores

A: “I would buy a huge house, and a bunch of cool cars. I would donate a little to charity though.” 

- Oliver Friend

Kahlua cake with Cool Whip

By Joseph San Pietro

Kahlua cake served with ice cream is one of my favorite desserts. My Kahlua cake is a circular cake in the shape of a donut with an indescribable taste almost like chocolate. Topped with powdered sugar right out of the oven, it almost melts in your mouth.

My first time ever having Kahlua cake was during the Easter season years ago. My grandparents invited my whole family over for a party. My grandpa loves Cool Whip, and I mean he loves it. Leave him with a tub of Cool Whip, and he will eat it all. 

I put Cool Whip on my Kahlua cake and realized why he loved this cake and the Cool Whip. I fell in love with the taste. My grandpa had made it the night before and I kept telling him how good it was. He said to me next time he would make it the day of the party so it would be warmer and fresher. By no means was it not fresh the day after; it was just as good, but when it is warm, it’s the best taste in the world. 

Around a year after that, I called my grandparents and asked them for the recipe. They told me the recipe and I went straight to my parents, telling them the recipe and what to get at the store. I made sure to tell them to get Cool Whip. I made the cake and I was sure it would be one of my favorite desserts, if not my favorite. I ate it not long after it came out of the oven. My whole family said it was good. I make it every once in a while now.

That is how I came across Kahlua cake and how I came to love it.

Recipe for Kahlua cake:

The ingredients in Kahlua cake might surprise you. You need 1 15.25 ounce chocolate cake mix box, 1 3-ounce instant vanilla pudding box, 3/4 cup of Kahlua, 1 cup of chocolate chips, 4 large eggs, and 3/4 cup of vegetable oil. That seems pretty normal for a cake but there is one more ingredient:  16 ounces of sour cream. It might sound bad but you should try it. Once baked you can't even taste the sour cream. Pour the cake batter into a bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees for 55-65 minutes.

Tamales Con Champurrado

By Lesly Mendoza Martinez

I don’t have a favorite type of food, because I like all of them. I try new foods to taste different flavors. But if I had to choose one food specifically, it would be “Tamales Con Champurrado.” You may already know what tamales are but might not know what Champurrado is. Champurrado is a type of Chocolate drink that goes along with the meal, Tamales. This is my favorite food because it’s a tradition my family and I also do every Christmas! When the cold comes and where are all waiting till the big pot of tamales heats up on the warm stove. It’s really nice having your whole family with you together. You get to tell jokes and stories while we wait for dinner to be served.

The hot Champurrado gets ready after the Tamales get out of the hot stove. Once the pot is hot, it’s ready to take out. My father has to help my mother get it on top of the table. We then each take time to wash our hands and take a plate ready to serve. We all get excited. My sister grabs the cups while my mother starts serving the Champurrado. I see when my mother pours the chocolate into the cups. My belly starts to rumble and my mouth starts getting watery. When we all are ready to serve, my father opens the big pot. You can see the steam rising as he opens it. Like if the heat was preparing for that moment. We all try to run for the biggest tamale. It’s funny because we are all fighting when we obviously know there’s going to be leftovers. Everyone’s hands are in the air reaching for them. Everyone is grabbing something through the dinner table. I try to get the things I need to start eating. My mother gets the napkins and starts passing them down to us. I get my tamale out of its leaf. The warm smell rises to my face. I get my drink as the others are doing, and sit down till everyone is ready. When we are all ready, we give thanks together. It’s a peaceful time together. Peaceful words are exchanged. Everyone starts to enjoy every bite.

We all focus on eating till my father turns on the TV. We’re already used to my father turning on the television when we are starting to eat. We still eat like if it was the last time we'll eat tamales.  Soon we end up watching a whole movie. During the movie, we eat our second or third tamale. When we finish eating, usually when the movie is about the end, we start getting desert. The dessert is either; bread, cookies, etc., with champurrado. In the end, we are all full and satisfied. We only eat tamales con champurrado once a year, but sometimes my mother sells tamales for people to enjoy as we enjoy them. She has stopped doing that because she has to stay awake till 3-4 in the morning to start preparing them. It takes a long time to prepare them. My sister and I sometimes help her, but she always sends us to sleep once it’s eleven. Even if it takes a lot of work, we still love them!

How to make Tamales (Como hacer Tamales):

Ingredients to prepare the Masa (Ingredientes para preparar la Masa);


4 cups (4 tazas) - Corn masa flour (Harina de maíz/Maseca)


3 cups (3 tazas) - Warm Water (Agua tibia)


1 cup (1 taza) Pork lard (Manteca de cerdo)


1 ½ tsp (1 ½ cdta) - Salt (Sal)


1 tbsp (1 cda) - Baking powder (Polvo para hornear)


TIP: You can subsitute pork lard with vegetable lard or corn oil, as well as the water with your favorite broth, we recommend using chicken or pork broth. (Puede sustituir la manteca de cerdo por manteca vegetal o aceite de maíz, así como el agua por el caldo de tu preferencia, te recomendamos caldo de pollo o cerdo.)

Preparing the Masa (Preparación de la Masa):

In a deep bowl or a mixer bowl, place MASECA Tamal corn masa flour and warm water, knead for 1 to 2 minutes or mix at low speed if using a mixer. Set aside. Then, Pour the lard in a skillet and heat until melted, add salt and baking powder, mix with a whisk or a spoon, set aside, and keep warm. After that, Add warm little by little to the bowl with the masa, kneading constantly; if using a mixer, use medium speed until all the lard is added. Lastly, Continue mixing until the dough is completely integrated, if using a mixer, increase speed and mix for 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside. (En una recipiente hondo o en el tazón de la batidora colocar la harina de maíz MASECA Tamal y en agua tibia, amase muy bien durante 1 a 2 minutos o a velocidad baja si es en la batidora. Reservar. Luego, Vacía la mantec en un sartén y llévelo al fuego para que se funda, agaregue la sal y el polvo para hornear mezclando con ayuda de un bateador u cuchara, consérvese tibia. Despues, Incorpore poco a poco la manteca tibia al recipiente donde está la masa, batiendo de manera constante; si lo hace en la batidora manténga a velocidad media hasta terminar de agarrar la manteca. Al ultimo, Siga batiendo hasta que la masa esté totalmente integrada, si está utilizando batidora aumente la velocidad y bata durante 4 a 5 minutos. Reservar.)

Two-sentence horror stories

I lost my father when I was really young. I wish he’d stop trying to find me.

I always liked talking to my loved ones at night, especially those that’ve passed.
But I’m starting to wish they’d stop answering.

My grandmother used to sleep upstairs when I was younger before she died.
I hope she goes back to sleep soon.
- Alex H.


A pained shriek tore through the air, but it was much closer than the others had been.
I knew I was next. - Rui


“Why is it so dark in here?”
she asked as the blindfold tightened around her face.


A girl reached down the garbage disposal to find a lost spoon.
Giggling, her brother flipped the switch under the sink.


Uncle Bill gave us a new tire for our swingset.
He wouldn’t tell us why he took it off his car.
-Anne


Walking down the dim hotel hallways always gave me a sinister feeling. The feeling of something evil watching you. Except, it wasn’t just a feeling when a dark slim creature is standing in the flickering lights at the end of the hallway. - Jen<3


As I’m walking home I grow uneasy.
My paranoia was a little too late. - Luna

I was young when I met a tall pale woman with black hair and eyes that seemed to stare down my soul. There isn’t a day that I wish to see those eyes. -SomeWriter


She was always so beautiful.
Too bad I have to stay outside her window while she sleeps.- Marie

Playing with my dog after a long day at school was the best feeling ever. As my dog went to go fetch the ball I started hearing scratching and whining coming from the closet door. - Allie J.

It is pitch black. I can't even see my hand in front of my face. But then I see it. His glowing green eyes lunging towards me. My feet, like cement, won’t budge. - Meg


The feeling crept down my spine, and it felt like my entire body was shrouded in ice and darkness. It was coming, and this was the end of the line for me. -Mallory

A warm night feeling the wind blow on your neck, wrapping around your head, feeling the presence of the unknown. In the dark looking back not knowing what there could be but still feeling the sense you’re being stalked - Angel B.


He took her hand,
Not wanting the night to end
I wonder if he thought the same
When she sliced him from within.

Rose charged through the door
Hurrying to avoid the horde
She closed the door every so slightly
So smooth that it squeaked when closed so tightly
She flinched and froze
Waiting for a noise
When all that surrounded her were arms much like coils.
-Ace

Two graveyard workers heard a knocking coming from one of the graves.“Shouldn’t we let him out?” asked the young man. The old man just pointed to the date buried which read 1984 and kept walking.
-Tristan P.

As I stood there, I felt a sharp prick in my skin. Suddenly everything went dark and my head started to spin as I fell to the ground.
-Hannah


I went into my daughter’s room to wake her up. I looked up and saw him - her “imaginary” friend.
-Oliver

She chose a card and turned it over. It said, “Beware of your friends as well as your enemies.” - Star

“Aren’t the brightly colored frogs pretty? Go on, you can touch them!”- Laura S.

I was taking a detour down an alley. I felt warm, rancid breath go down my neck. -Fairuza

They say that curiosity killed the Kat,
but they never disclosed where they hid the body.

As his family gradually got smaller and smaller,
Jace noticed that his meals were becoming more succulent by the dish.
-Ethan

"I feel the cold wind and hear moving wheels while I try to open my eyes, but only see darkness in the night sky. I realize I'm chained up to a cage that’s being pulled into the unknown."

-Lesly M.

The ghosts

By Star Friend

Sara walked in to see Tom serving noodles, bologna sandwiches and fruit to Hailey and Kyle, who were seated in front of the television. Tom avoided eye contact with Sara as he made his way back into the kitchen, where he began dishing out a bowl of the venison stew he had prepared for himself in the crockpot the day before. Sara didn’t care much for venison.

It was the end of the grading period at Tom’s school. Tom was always insufferable at the end of a grading period, when half of the teachers were inevitably running behind, despite thinly veiled reminders issued daily during afternoon intercom announcements about report cards.

 “How was your day?” Tom asked as he sat at the table and began eating the stew.

“Boring,” Sara said, carving off a slice of the dairy-free carrot cake she had prepared over the weekend with tofu cream cheese icing. It wasn’t as good as real cream cheese, but Hailey was allergic to dairy products, so Sara had improvised. Sara thought it would be a neat experiment to see how many days she could go without eating a hot meal.

 “Mr. Preineke is getting remarried,” Tom said.

“Wow,” said Sara. “That was fast.”

Their neighbor, Mrs. Preineke, had died a year earlier.

“He must be one of those men who needs a woman to validate his existence,” Tom said.

“Not like you?” Sara asked.

“No,” Tom said, dropping his spoon into the bowl with a resounding clink. He got up and carried his dishes to the counter.

In the other room, Hailey and Kyle were fighting over what to watch next on TV. Tonight was a bath night. Sara hated bath nights, but because it was the end of the grading period, and because she had an energy reserve stored up from sitting in meetings all day, not really paying attention to much of what was said, she planned to execute the procedure alone, allowing Tom some much-needed down time.

Kyle was first. Sara filled the tub with water and helped him out of his clothing. “Wait,” Kyle exclaimed before sitting down in the water. “I need my Scooby Doo towel.”

“What?” Sara asked.

“My Scooby Doo towel. I won it at school. When you put it in water it turns into a towel.”

“Where is it?” Sara asked.

“In my backpack,” he said.

“Tom,” Sara yelled down the stairs. “Tom, can you look in Kyle’s backpack for a Scooby Doo towel? … Tom!”

Moments later, she heard footsteps climbing the stairs.

“Yes, dear?”

“Can you go downstairs and look in the front pocket of Kyle’s backpack for the Scooby Doo towel, please?”

“As you wish,” Tom said, turning and descending the stairs.

Moments later, he reappeared with the towel, which Sara unwrapped for Kyle to immerse in the water.

Once Hailey was in the tub, Sara closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall as Hailey prattled on, talking to her ponies and water toys.

“As you wish,” Tom had said. It was a line from “The Princess Bride.”

Sara remembered the night they had watched the movie together on A&E. It was when they were coworkers, before they had really started dating. A bunch of people from the office had gone out together after work and somehow Tom and Sara ended up alone at his apartment watching reruns.

The day after they had watched the movie, Sara was late to a staff meeting. She sat down beside Tom, who was wearing suspenders. He had discreetly reached over and pulled a piece of lint from her black pants, throwing it on the floor.

“Mommy,” Hailey said, “come here. I need to tell you a secret.”

Sara leaned over and Hailey screamed in her ear before bursting into laughter.

She must have learned that from Kyle. It was far too obnoxious for a preschooler to come up with on her own.

Sara thought about “The Princess Bride” and Tom in suspenders pulling lint from her pants. She was still in love with that Tom. It was a bit like being in love with a ghost. But, she thought, as she wiped what she hoped was dirt from a bathroom stool, it was probably better to be in love with a ghost than not to be in love at all.

Sara herself was something of a ghost. Everything she did – what she wore, what she wrote, even what she ate – had more to do with circumstances than her own preferences. Her favorite foods were pizza and cake. More specifically, Sara liked pizza with REAL cheese, not the rubbery vegan cheese she used on the pizzas she made at home for Kyle and Hailey because of Hailey’s allergy.

Wasn’t pizza everyone’s favorite food? It must be, Sara thought, because it was served at every single social gathering for kids. It was too bad that when Hailey ate it, her skin broke out in itchy patches, prompting people to ask Sara what was wrong.

As for cake, Sara alternated between making her own dairy-free cakes and cupcakes and letting Hailey indulge in the colorful confections shared by her classmates and peers on a regular basis. She did not want Hailey to be THAT KID – the one other parents were afraid to invite to parties because of her allergies.

Sara had invited all of Hailey’s classmates and their parents to stop by their house while trick-or-treating on Halloween night for cider punch and dairy-free cake. Filled with empty-nesters eager to hand out candy to cute kids, Sara and Tom’s neighborhood was great for trick-or-treating.

Sara had not considered the long-term ramifications when she planned her wedding on the holiday ten years earlier. When she met Tom, they were both aspiring writers particularly fond of ghost stories. Sara’s favorite was “Wuthering Heights.” The idea that an obsessive love could endure beyond death, that anything could endure, was, Sara thought, the ultimate romance.

They were married in a candlelight ceremony at a little old Presbyterian Church on Sleepy Hollow Road. Sara’s bridesmaids were thrilled that they got to wear black gowns which could be used again for any formal occasion. The entire wedding party had red roses.

At their reception in town at the Hamilton Hotel, bare branches decorated with twinkling lights stood in crystal vases filled with rocks. The wedding cake was red velvet with chocolate ganache.

On their tenth anniversary, Sara made a dairy-free red velvet cake with chocolate icing. On top, she placed two smiling wax ghost figurines purchased from the Dollar Store. The cake was a hit with everyone who visited them on Halloween night, including Mr. Preineke and his fiancée Helen.

She seemed like a nice lady, Sara thought. Helen and Mr. Preineke had met while working together for the EPA. Her husband had died of a heart attack three years ago.

Mr. and Mrs. Preineke had been married for 40 years. Sara wondered how long Mr. Preineke had loved Mrs. Preineke, how long he had loved her ghost, and whether or not he still did.  

The Old Dragon

looks back

once he used to

be a young one

The old dragon

looks back

sees that it's a long way

that he has come

The old dragon

looks back

and his eyes

tears they start to shed

The old dragon

looks back

so many of his friends

they are now dead

The old dragon

once so powerful

now begs for mercy

The old dragon is

now weak as he can be

The old dragon

cannot vision the future

so he just repeats the past

The old dragon

his youth has faded from him

and he has aged

so very fast

used to be

a fire breathing dragon

but that was a long time

ago

now it just

isn't so!

- Jayden Baker

Dirt

Lights burned

Why do we use that word, burn?

I guess we’ll see.

The engine sputtered to life

Then, six hours later, and many miles later,

It died.

He stepped out

Onto the gravel he had 

So missed.

It was dark, probably

That didn’t matter right now

Because

All he could see was the burning lights in front of him

Do you know how much he had missed this place?

He had once been on a date, he thought

Upon which he spoke only of this place

She was displeased but

It didn’t matter he

Didn’t even

Remember who she was

He stumbled up the driveway

Practically

Drooling

At the thought of reentering his home his

Place his

House

And what a lovely life he had

Had here

He and his siblings

(how many? He couldn’t say.)

Would play and run and fight amongst 

The halls

He and his siblings were special

They had had a special life and childhood for a reason

One day, they sprung forth from their mother’s forehead

Sans père

Via, he assumed, immaculate conception

He, in a stupor, wrenched open the door of the house

And was met with

Paradise

In the yard, exactly four hundred

Seconds after he had turned some age

He had eaten a rabbit alive

He had once spent hours on a lovely card

For his mother’s birthday

She was bedridden, still 

Sore from their emergence

He scrambled on all fours

Up the main staircase 

His favorite food

His siblings' favorite food was

Applesauce he thought

Every inch of the walls

Were covered with extravagant 

Taxidermied animals mounted

On carefully carved plates

Carved to fit into each other like

Puzzle pieces

He had once spent three hours in

The shower struggling

To wash the coagulated

Blood out of his hair

He found himself in his mother’s bedroom

Where

He had once found himself

Once he had sat watching 

The fire

In the fireplace blaze for

So long

Once he had stepped on a 

Cat

Until it came

Apart

He was in the bedroom of

Some man who had lived

Here 

He had once microwaved

(or did microwaves exist yet?)

A human ear he had 

Found while on one

Of his

Hourly walks

He was in the kitchen where

The oven was open and the microwave

(so they did!)

Was open

He crashed through

The house

And found firewood

Stacked in every room

He crashed through 

The house

And found rat poison

Stashed in every room

The house was too warm

For it being winter

He thought

He had once 

Buried someone

In the basement 

Which was easy because

The cellar (what’s the difference?)

Floor was 

Entirely 

dirt.

- John Scully