“Now, once again, we present Backstage Wife, the story of Mary Noble-"

Millicent paused in the act of closing the front door, groceries in hand. She didn’t remember leaving the radio on when she had left or turning it on that morning at all for that matter. Her memory had not been faithful lately.

Surely it was nothing more than a little stress.

Carrying her bags to the kitchen, she set everything on the counter. Then she picked up forty-nine cents worth of large eggs and opened the carton.

Gasping, Millicent tried to scream but nothing came out.

The eggs were not chicken eggs as the carton suggested, nor were they any kind of eggs she had ever seen. Each one was a sphere of clear jelly with something resembling a starfish suspended inside.

As she watched, mouth agape, one burst open with a tiny popping sound, splattering the side of her face and the top of her blouse. She dropped the carton to the floor and desperately tried not to hear the popping noises nor the chorus of hissing that followed.