On the evening of her sixth birthday, after opening presents, eating a sumptuous dinner, and accepting her blind and much older brother-in-law’s marriage proposal; a baffling yet exciting prospect nevertheless, she retreated to her lavender bedroom to play with her gifts.

The record player was open and waiting as usual, and she placed the delicate needle head gently on “Emil and the Detectives” and waited for her favorite part; the sing-song sound of the European siren clamoring through Berlin:”wee-ha, wee-ha, wee-ha.”

Her eyes fell on the brand new bank, a lovely pink one in the shape of a fat little coin-eating piggy, a gift from her new “fiancée.”

Tap, tap, tap went the pig as it repeatedly made contact with the hard bedroom floor, the little girl convinced that she would soon find the exact point before which the pink bank would shatter.

“Yes, I did bang it on the ground,” she said to her mother, her distraught face red and tear-stained, “but I didn’t think it would actually break.”

This week’s word, provided by Lillie McFerrin of “Five Sentence Fiction” fame is “delicate.”