From Marisol Moves In: Marisol Finagles a Soda

Sonja Vitow
· in ,

Some scientists did this study where they let rats have all the cocaine they wanted, only half the rats had access to sugar water and the other half didn’t. Just so you know, the rats who could have sugar water did way less cocaine than the others. I’m just mentioning it so you don’t ever look back on today with regrets.

That’s what Marisol tells your parents at the deli after they say you can’t have soda.

It’s simple science, she says when they don’t respond. If you let us drink soda, we’re less likely to do drugs.

The waitress, whose lipstick defies the boundaries of her mouth, asks,

D’yous need a few minutes?

Your dad says, No, no, we’re ready. I’ll have a corned beef on rye…and a root beer.

He nods to Marisol, who orders only a plate of half-sour pickles with her Dr. Brown’s Black Cherry soda. You cautiously order a Coke with your sandwich, and are unsure if it’s the ice, the caffeine, or the sense of getting away with something that gives you chills when you drink it.

When Marisol goes to the bathroom, your mom sips her water disapprovingly and says, We have to get a handle on her. Your dad glances at Marisol’s stack of soggy half-sours.

She’s not a bad kid, she just wants to see how far she can push, he says. She’s just like Jeremy, only by twelve, he would’ve been angling for a beer.

At the mention of her father, you all stiffen even though Marisol is out of earshot. Your mom rubs your dad’s back, and his eyes seem glassy and unfamiliar. The shock of your father’s sadness unsettles you. You want to comfort him, but the words catch sharp in your throat like bubbles from your soda.

Sonja Vitow is more than just an unpronounceable name. She is a Boston based writer and translator whose work can be found in Gulf Coast, Safety Pin Review, Words Apart, Meadowland Review, and Punchnel’s. In her spare time, she practices saying the names of Massachusetts towns. Worcester. Leicester. Billerica.