Shingles
By Chris Gabryszewski
You’re not supposed to sit on a roof, but it’s usually harmless if you do, so long as the roof is built well and you don’t teeter off the edge. We’re not supposed to go on the roof. It’s bad for the shingles. But it’s the perfect spot to have a beer with your brother as your cousin pisses off the ledge. To look up at the stars that are clearer here than anywhere else on Earth. To feel smaller than it all. To feel bigger than it all. We’re not supposed to go on the roof. It’s bad for the shingles. Who designed shingles to be so shitty? Roofs are for sitting and laughing and betting that we can make it to the ground without breaking anything. Roofs are for nailing your brother’s shirt to when he falls asleep during shingle repairs.
For feeling mightier than pine trees and brighter than lightning bugs.
For not needing to say anything between brothers and cousins.
We never fell off. We never fell through.
My younger brother snuck out onto the roof to escape trombone practice. I climbed a tree to chase him, but he scampered back inside and locked all the doors and windows. I didn’t tell mom. She would’ve said something about the shingles.
HVWP COMMONPLACE 20
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