The anxious hush behind stage was beginning to be overpowered by the muffled buzz of the audience filling the seats in the auditorium on the other side of the curtain. It was nearly time.

The irony of the situation was the hardest part. “What five items would you take with you if you were stranded on a deserted island?” How many times had that question, or some variation of it, been asked as an ice breaker?

My mind went to all manner of fairy tales and fantasy monsters that lurk in such places…wraiths and dementors and who knows what else. But I have always prided myself on being a rational person. There’s no such thing as monsters.

As the days turned, I began to sink further into my cozy tray, feeling myself forming more and more to the grooves of my dish. What a lovely sensation, to grow into your home.

You needed to drink covfefe quickly, otherwise the resin would stick to the cup. Everyone knew this, but you’d still occasionally see some poor soul tearing their paper cup apart with their teeth and hungrily eating scraps of it to get at the residue.