I'll trade you a harmless devil for an innocent.

They said the non-shiny type was good for staying clean -- just a quick wipe with a wet cloth -- much easier than getting the shiny kind polished. As I watch the dusty black peanuts linearly enter and exit my line of site with the pendulum-swing of my legs, I wonder if there are limits to my laziness.

My morning walk is usually dedicated to the possible love-interests in my life. They are fantastical, yes, but one has to work with what one has, and, who knows? Maybe the News Editor at work secretly fantasizes about me, too, if he can remember my name.

But as I watch the white lines of the red bricks blur into pink underneath my shoes, my anger won't stop mounting until I feel the acid of my stomach creep into the back of my throat. I forgot breakfast again. But how can I eat with all the pale faces of almond-colored children filling up my head. Is that what the dead look like? Just a paler version of the living? I thought at least the eyes would have a white film over them, but, no: they're the same black discs of fright. Are they still scared?

"Maybe they should start looking at home for someone to blame!"

Yes, I suppose if they can have the same color eyes, they should be able to turn them to their parents, asking, "Why?" And I guess the parent should look into the dead eyes and say, "Because I failed you." And I suppose they do.

They drop leaflets in every town warning them of death. "Flee!" they say. But when they tell them where to go, they forget to tell them that that is the target. And when they don't, they mean to say, we warn you that death approaches so that you can die in fear.

"They have the right to retaliate!"

I don't know if you can call it a war, when one side is blocked in on all sides with weapons and military one-hundredth the size of the other. Not to mention they are blocked in with ten times their number in civilians.

"They're using human shields!"

Yes, I suppose, then, we should shoot through the children. Shoot straight through the black discs to the black hearts of the enemy. It's worth it, right?