He sat cross-legged by the plastic horses of a broken carousel.

She's the type of girl who makes the Capulets cringe ; she has Satan on her speed dial & bitemarks on Trouble's neck. On Wednesday, she gives Karma lapdances, teaches Heartbreak 101 on Thursday, & tangos with Danger on Friday. By Saturday night, she's already seduced all the boys in her weekly flea market. & Sunday morning, she flees to the next town on her to-do-list. He wears a mother on his hip & braces virgin-boy hair in constant disarray. He has expired lungs & ventilator-lips, a faded cerabral cause & eyelids inched apart. Lenses are permanently laced over his nose, up-turned when buried in comic book pages. He is reason-impaired & to them, he is a faded bother. On weekdays, he's a sacrosanct child. The ghost of his presence brushes through her eerie hallways.