1. He clicked the latch on his car door. Thick, gray haze enveloped him in its warm arms. Lacy smoke tendrils tickled his nostrils. He coughed, his chest convulsing like an oxygen-starved athlete’s.

“Do you have a death wish, dude?” he demanded, dodging away from the open car door where his friend sat smoking his cigarette.

2. Dylan decided to leave school and never look back. He would be like Lot and flee into the desert, his sandals sailing over the sand as it flew up behind him like a dusty cloak. The whole school could burn to the ground  for all he cared. He hated Mr. Wixlow and his relentless whiny, thready words ensnaring him in negativity. That man berated him daily for just existing, forgetting the fact that he had been the one to stop Joe from smacking him that day in English class when he called Joe a loser who couldn’t pass a test if his life depended on it. There had to be more to life than Mr. Wixlow and school.

3. My Sister’s Parrotlet Cotton

White feathers dipped in pale blue,
Cotton ball soft,
Tiny tweeting terror,
Raging meteor of destruction,
Flying Dutchman
Intent on revenge.
Duck now!

4. Who needs a cheery, chiming doorbell when you already have a pair of hell hounds and a couple of  screeching parrots pinning and charging like two bachelors at a bake sale whenever an unwary guest wanders up the front steps to what may as well be Hogwart’s Forbidden Forest? Certainly not the Johnsons! We welcome guests with hearty hellos of “Shut up!” and “Go lay down!” and “Don’t touch the birds. They will bite!”

5. I look around my room and what do I see? Bulky blankets lying twisted and kicked aside, cowering by the wall. Carelessly-discarded clothes littering the floor making lumpy mountains of mismatched color on my carpet. Curtains closely covering  the window, my doorway to a whispering world where brilliant sunshine calls to me, wanting to take my hand and lead me out to enjoy the sun-kissed afternoon. Can I go outside yet, Mom?