It's Not Like I Planned It This Way (Watty Awards 2013)

blue cabinets

i still remember

before you started drinking

you liked to drink milk

in tiny glasses

we were eleven

and your mother wasn't home

you said she was out running errands

but i knew she was out on a corner

working

you knew it, too

but i didn't correct you

you took me to the basement

you had four blue cabinets against a wall

you opened up the middle one

your mother always said the middle cabinet was off limits

but i didn't remind you

you took out two tiny glasses

and closed the cabinet

we ran upstairs giggling

you told me to get the milk from the fridge

and i did

and i watched as you filled the glasses

and i wondered if the milk would spill out

you pushed one glass over to me

and showed me how to chug the milk quickly

we had a race

little did i know

that those glasses

were shot glasses

and you were practicing

using milk as a substitute

for a party you were going to later.