My Cardboard Balcony

Thoughts On A Japanese Restaurant by Belinda Roddie If you want me to reel as quick as an eel and feel as free as can be, then wrap me up in a sushi roll and send me off on a soy sauce sea.

Denise wore a denim jacket over her skinny black necktie and silver vest, waiting for me at the corner table with a glass of Zinfandel already half-empty in her fingers. I sat down shakily, brushing a spot of dust from my slacks. She watched me with a smile drooping from the left corner of her mouth. "Nervous?" she asked. "I'm not going to bite, honest." As she said that, she pushed the bottle of wine over to me, gesturing at the empty vessel beside my silverware.