Full Body Inflation

"Buyer's remorse" doesn't quite capture what she was feeling.  "Cheated, humiliated."  Now, those terms would describe the feeling more succinctly.  Perhaps what had made the encounter so troubling was the fact that she didn't consider herself to be the easily duped, naive type.  The consumer mayhem of "Black Friday" surely didn't help.  Yes, that's it;  long day, fatigue.  That's why she gave in.  The comforting embrace of rationalization always helped to salve a psychic wound such as this.  But, stil

"Hand over the purse, lady."  It's a gruff voice out of the night, a threatening bark that leads me to gasp and start involuntarily even though I've come down this forbidding road intentionally in a quest for my unusual brand of fun.  It's an adrenaline shot through my whole body, like boiling water through my veins.  It's time.  I hug my purse protectively closer to my rib, and slowly revolve to face my assailant.  He's there in the yawning shadows between the two dim streetlights, the knife edge a gleaming ribbon in the dark.