By Hannah Kludy

Artwork by Alli Rowe

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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.

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