Hard Stuff Go Down Easy

 *submission for a "Tiny-Memoir" (<100 words) contest

Hard Stuff Go Down Easy

We move from a town in central Pennsylvania to glitzy Palm Beach Florida just before I enter high school, and I find the adjustment to be intoxicating.  Year One: I am stunned when, riding on skateboards, my friends buy us beer at a drive-through convenience store.  Year Two: I allow myself to be taught how to drink rum- good, añejo rum- overlooking a moonlit ocean on a private beach.  Year Three: I am granted a shot of someone’s parent’s Louis XVI Champagne Cognac- valued at about $100 per- and not caring for it much, help myself to a second.