“Eat like this!” Mama demands, nibbling the bagel like a caged gerbil with a toilet paper roll. 

The boy giggles, takes his like a harmonica, raising it like a singer reaching for that final high note. Cream cheese squirts out for the audience’s enjoyment. 

She rubs her expectant belly. “Kids…”

Jennifer L. Smith lives in Eagle River, Alaska. Her work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Cirque, Yellow Chair Review, Eunoia Review, and Alaska Women Speak.