A baby.
It’s the one thing that every woman should have the chance to have. It also happened to be the one thing that I wanted more than anything. My pulse sped and I smiled every time I thought about holding a baby in my arms, my baby.
Of course, that would mean I’d actually have to sleep with somebody. Or, you know, have any semblance of a love life.
I sighed and leaned back in the chair behind my desk and looked out the window the very anti-climactic view of the empty field outside my building. For the billionth time I wished that I had a nicer view. It would have been much nicer if anything happened in the field other than the occasional person cutting across it on their way to or from the bus station on the other side of it. Of course, it was just an offhand thought as my mind wondered to the topic that had been plaguing my waking thoughts for months.

I hate the word 'blog'.

To me, it sounds like an onomatopoeia

summoned after an evening of gin and eggnog,

and followed by a bad case of diarrhea.

She woke slowly but didn’t open her eyes. Her head ached fiercely; the mother of all migraines bearing down on her, making her cringe. She groaned and burrowed deeper into the blankets, snuggling into the downy warmth surrounding her. She inhaled deeply and her brow furrowed as she realized that something was off. Her bed didn’t smell like her; it smelled like… a man? That was odd. She moved and felt a sharp pain in her stomach. She hissed between her teeth, her hand dropping low to caress her abdomen under her t-shirt. Her eyes shot open in surprise; it was bandaged. The dim light of the room was still too much for her eyes to take. She blinked rapidly, trying to force the room into focus. The room obeyed slowly, the ceiling revealing itself to be made of wood. She frowned. Her ceiling was white, not cedar wood. She wasn’t in her own room.

Auctions, Raffles, Lemonade Stand
Opal awards are rather grand
Angel Aid and Amazing Quotations
Charity, upgrades, and donations.

It had been seven days since the outbreak and five since they had abandoned the cars. They had used the last of their water the night before after they made their dinner of rice and unsalted sunflower seeds.
"Hey, I think I see a puddle up there! Finally, something to drink!" a blonde boy in a ratty tee-shirt and ripped jeans exclaimed.
"You can't drink that. It's stagnant." a dark haired boy replied dismissively.
"It's better than nothing!"
"No it's not. If it's stagnant there's going to be all kinds of bacteria and probably bug larva swimming around." the brunette girl, who was at the front of the group, retorted.

I watched you as you paced in front of my bed, running your hands over the blonde fuzz laying claim to your scalp once more. You were crying again, like you had a few times too many. It was wrong for us to be together from the start, both so sick, both so weak. But somehow we stuck together through it all as different as our outcomes had been.

And then, there we were, you walking, talking, growing your hair back as I remained in the bed, consistently being told my family needed to make plans. What was I to wear? What songs did I want the church choir to sing? The entire time I answered I wasn't paying attention to my words. I was only focused on you, standing in the back of the room, tears pouring from your blue eyes, nails in between your teeth as you tried not to speak.

When snow has fallen, 'cross the glen
with apples piled in the pen
Its good to sit about the fire
and on this fruit,to quench the mire:

The water dripping down the front steps was the first indication that anything was wrong. The silence was the second. There should have been the sound of dogs announcing his arrival. He couldn’t remember a time when he had come to visit without being greeted by the high pitched, frenetic barking of these or the many other dogs she had owned over his lifetime. To say he wasn’t an animal lover was putting it mildly but while he hated those dogs he had to admit they were good company for an elderly woman on her own.

But now there was just silence. No dogs, no grating voice calling “Brian, is that you?” Yet when he stood, quietly, listening, he could make out the faint sound of the water, slowly making its way down the steps.

The bravado of the crowd echoes throughout the whole stadium as the Great Ringmaster of Florence holds up his arms and introduces the rest of the gang: a group of rambunctious overly face-painted circus people whose looks, in other circumstances, would cause them to be sent straight to the mental ward, but after all this is "Il Grande Circo di Firenze" - The Great Circus of Florence. Multi-colored lights danced around the ceiling, and the dome-shaped tent magnified the shouts of the people. The paint on the wooden stands displayed faded colors of the rainbow and the patterns that lined up the stone pillars were barely even understandable. The smeared image of a golden lion had already lost its head, and the smiles of the circus people on the pillars were already blanketed by multiple layers of vandalism, the result of time making its mark on the old circus. With every year a letter from the gold embossment of the circus's name outside the big red dome dematerialized - but none of it mattered.

For those who shook their heads,
and for those who only dreamt on beds.
For those who walk and run,
but don't look at the colour of the sky or sun.
For those who think the sky's the limit,
for those who don't know it's infinite.
For those who can speak and spell,
but have nothing to write or tell.

Sounds like something I would have done. I'm glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it. It's nice to hear your reaction.

Hello and thank you for writing in. I'm sorry if your child has had a bad experience with vaccinations. I know many children have had reactions, which is true and can be found in medical studies available on the internet or any public library. However, the myth quoted was that they cause autism which is correctly written as they do not. I did my research and I stand behind it. Your links provided are not based in medical fact. They were blogs and/or media sites. There is no link in any legitimate medical study that vaccines cause autism. Can they cause reactions and medical conditions such as you mentioned (swollen legs, etc.)? Yes and that is something that is very unfortunate but many drugs, in fact most drugs, in society today have side effects. It's just a matter of weighing if the side effects are worth the good the drug or vaccine does for each individual. Again, thank you for writing in.~ Brooke

You're very welcome! Thanks for writing in!

Thanks Jeff! I am glad you enjoyed it. It was actually fun to write too.

Yes, I hope so. Though many times, you have heard something so many times that you don't realize it isn't a fact until someone points it out. Thanks for writing in!

Thank you! I really appreciate you letting me know. I'm glad you enjoyed it.