My Cardboard Balcony

by Belinda Roddie "Just kidding about the not-having-mono thing." " What?!" "Yeah...sorry...mind handing me another pillow?" "John! I sipped from your cup!" "Oh, you'll be fine." "I sipped from the same straw!" "Hey, you don't know. Maybe I got it from you." "I've never had mono." "Some people don't show symptoms. Some people just get the virus and it lives in 'em. Maybe that's it." "But I've never shared a drink with you." "Bullshit." "John." "Bullllllshiiiiit. Remember how many forty ounces we've passed around?" "Yeah, but that was back in freshman year of col - " "And the times we drank from the same whiskey bottle..." "We had no glasses! And I was cold!" "Not to mention how many times we just reused dirty pint glasses over a

Archer deftly spun the string around the spool, unraveling it from the wood and watching as it disappeared into the machine. As he happily sewed his new pair of slacks, he was aware of his uncle staring at him. "You can't do that." "Sure I can," Archer remarked cheerfully. "I'm doing it now." "It's a woman's job." "Only because you don't have the skill."