My Cardboard Balcony

Oh, Sweetness by Belinda Roddie Curious how the elation melts as quickly as cotton candy. It sticks to your fingers, though - the threads of it, the wisps, the fraying fragments. Somehow, you can still taste it days later, like a hot summer solstice. Like a ferris wheel ride into outer space. Like the lingering sensation of a cool finger on an arched back.

We went for a bike ride around my old university campus and took a tour of downtown, where I could see that the Rustic Coffee Stop had been replaced by a quaint, purple-tinged cupcake shop, and the diner where I also got a grilled cheese and tomato soup had been remodeled and was now serving way more customers. We stopped for a drink of water, our foreheads warm and wet with perspiration, and my friend turned my attention to the nearest street corner.