Come play in the ball pit at Pete’s Pizza Palace of Pepperoni. We’ll disappear among the plastic spheres that smell of chemicals and sweat and the tears of other children, yanked from the pit too soon. We’ll turn in those tickets, quickly, to the man at the prize booth who holds them a little too close to his body, so you have to reach in to check the number because, he says, with a sly smile, you might not have won anything, but you know you did, so you reach in anyway, as he slides the tickets down further and laughs because he’s got you where he wants you. You suck in your breath and pull away and go home with the tiniest of heart-shaped erasers with glitter and rainbows, and you place it in a jar with all the other tiny prizes and wonder when they’ll add up to something good. RSVP soon.

Cecilia Kennedy is a writer who taught English and Spanish in Ohio for 20 years before moving to Washington state with her family. Since 2017, she has published stories in international literary magazines and anthologies. Her work has appeared in Tiny Frights, Maudlin House, Tiny Molecules, Meadowlark Review, Vast Chasm Literary Magazine, Kandisha Press, Ghost Orchid Press, and others.