A Glob of Warm Spit
Reflected in the mirror were me and Janie. She was bigger. Brushing our teeth, shoulder-to-shoulder, I watched as white foam bubbled and frothed around our lips, watched her watching herself, wondering if this might be a night when she did something funny like letting the toothpaste dribble into a Santa Claus beard on her chin, or if this would be a night when I’d lean forward to spit in the sink and she’d choose the very same moment to spit a warm glob of foam onto the back of my neck.
I never knew with Janie which side of the looking-glass I was going to get. I waited at her side, feeling the hairs on her warm arm brush in a sisterly fashion against the hairs on mine. She didn’t like the way the hairs were darkening on her forearms, so I worried about the blonde hair on mine. It might be one more thing she didn’t like about me.
I wanted to be in Janie’s best books. I wanted her to let me into her dear-diary-safe-heart. I watched like a weathervane twirling on a barn roof. The lightning strikes were fierce and I covered my ears in the thunder. I wished we could’ve been one instead of two.
I hope you enjoyed this passage from my in-progress book, Big LoveLet me know if it raised any thoughts or memories for you, I’d love to hear about them. I send out a new piece every Sunday.
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