Words like knives, thrown back and forth across the room, like a death-defying circus act.

Husband and wife tossing sharp insults, from the couch to the kitchen doorway. Neither landing anything deep, glancing wounds, already scraping scarred tissue.

Neither really feels anything for the other anymore. But the dance, the battle, the contest keeps them together. Light reflects of the blades as they flip and fly.

Thud into walls. Plink against the floors. Bounce of their scaly armour of experience, disdain and dull hate. It aches in their bellies. They think it might offer some release, against the mounting pressure.

It never does.

The curtain closes one day to open the next. The play, the dance, the juggling act continues.

Insults like knives flip through the air.