Member-only story
Tony’s Mickey Mouse Watch
Some people aren’t meant to be grownups
“We don’t have any more space for your artifacts.” Static electricity popped along the carpet as Marie shuffled in her slippers to the bookcase on the far side of the living room. “Baseball mitt. Stuffed panda. Out-of-date globe with the wrong countries. Lionel train engine. Winnie the Pooh drinking glass.” She picked up each object as she named it. “Lego dragon.”
“Don’t touch the dragon!” Tony yelped. It took Tony over a week to assemble his first Lego dragon when he was eight, and then another week to construct this one as an adult. “It’s fragile.”
Tony hated it when she used the word artifact.
“It’s not as fragile as you.” Marie rolled her eyes.
Tony skipped to the bookcase. Marie sidestepped out of his way, sallied to the bar, and mixed a martini.
He inspected each of the toys that she had touched and adjusted their position, so they were precisely where they had been before she moved them. He blew soft breaths to remove any dust.
“And that.” Marie pointed to the shelf below. “We’re probably the only adults in America with a frosted glass piggy bank filled with pennies, nickels, and dimes. Are there even any quarters in there?” She harrumphed. “Why didn’t you break it and use…
