My Cardboard Balcony

An Unexpected Reunion by Belinda Roddie It was a family emergency, one that brought together everyone from the sweaty armpit of Mobile, Alabama to the vegan cocktail dungeon of Berkeley, California. I saw my Aunt Rita, who never liked to pass a day without clotting her lungs with nicotine. My estranged brother Alan, who had a new tattoo of an eagle on his right shoulder because the tattoo of an eagle on his left shoulder wasn't epic enough. My sweet cousin Tiffany, who had just come out in the loudest way possible on Youtube and was now dating a bombshell model wannabe with straight black hair and beautiful green eyes. I hugged them all, taking in every smell: The tobacco, the scabbed over skin next to my brother's clavicle, the drugstore perfume that Tiffany bought and used as if to impress her girlfriend, even though I wondered if the odor was ever really noticed. At the hotel, everyone ate steak, even the vegetarians, and everyone drank wine, even

Scrub the windows, mop the floor, do the dishes, fix the door. Work until your arms are sore and your fingers don't work no more. Drink a beer and catch some z's. Don't forget to dust, now, please. All these chores are just a breeze - and your responsibilities!