By Hannah Kludy
Artwork by Alli Rowe
The gin and tonic tastes like the pine-and-citrus cleaner that coats
the wooden floors of my favorite bar.
I took my best friend there last week and she played ski ball
and an overly long game of pool. I wondered why beer tastes better
in a glass than in a bottle. She finished hers and asked me and I said
I don’t know, it just does.
My dad said summer shandy was invented because some brewer had
almost run out of beer when a huge crowd showed up and he mixed
what he had left with lemonade but my dad was drunk when he said so,
so I don’t know.
The shandy makes me want to skinny-dip in a lake, but I’m afraid
of water that isn’t clear and shallow.
I want to see the bottom. I never see the bottom.