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This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “The Beach at Night” Down in the Dirt v212 (10/23) Order the paperback book:

Order this writing that appears in the one-of-a-kind anthology Instant Karma the Down in the Dirt September-December 2023 issues collection book		get the 422 page September-December 2023 Down in the Dirt 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

The Pink Castle

Maureen McDole

I spent one summer living at my grandparent’s house directly across the street from the Don Cesar Hotel on Saint Petersburg Beach. Every night its pink castle glow lulled me to sleep. The pink glow must have entered my mind and made me a poet. Our parents worked and often left my cousins John, Micheal, and Colin at the house with us. It was the early 80’s, and MTV was king of our castle. We’d flip a coin to see who would go into Grandma’s room. We wanted $20 to fill ourselves on video games and ice cream across the street at the hotel. It was the scariest thing to enter her room and ask, but she would always creep up from bed and say, Oh honey, of course. Grab my purse. To this day I hate asking for money. I always got mint chocolate chip or orange sherbet. We deposited our borrowed quarters in Ms. Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Centipede until our pockets contained only crumbs. These moments were the freest I ever felt as a child, safe with my cousins in the pink castle. That summer I discovered HBO late at night and had my first introduction to sex on TV. I’d sneak downstairs after everyone fell asleep. I told myself I had insomnia from sleeping in a foreign house, the pink light. We never had cable at home or money for ice cream and video games. My grandparent’s house was a portal into a richer, more sensual world.

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