Sly Bitch Recognition

When I studied abroad and stayed with the Dragon Lady and her family, she made fresh-squeezed orange juice every morning. My roommate and I would sit at the little cafe table in her kitchen eating our yogurt and chatting of the day to come. The Dragon Lady would chat with us, squeeze our orange juice and hand each of us a delicious glass of sunshine.

It took me a few weeks to realize that some mornings, the juice tasted awful. There was something...off. Turns out that anytime I left the kitchen during breakfast instead of squeezing my juice she would fill the rest of the glass with water so she wouldn't have to use up her oranges on us. Since my roommate and I shared a bathroom, we were often up and down several times during the course of a meal trying to juggle the application of our morning glam.

One day, I was sitting in the little kitchen when my roomie breezed in and announced the bathroom was free. Relieved, I jumped up to take my turn. My chair was pushed back, I was poised to leave the room when I remembered: The juice. She is going to chince me on my juice.

I turned back around to sit down and said that I would wait until after I was done eating. As I reseated myself, my eyes met that of my host mother. There was a flash between us. She knew that I knew. Without missing a beat she kept on halving and squeezing the oranges. I sat down and finished my breakfast. That was probably the tastiest glass of orange juice I had that summer.