The Pasta Citadel

On a distant planet of cheese dunes and marinara lakes, ants have built a castle out of rigatoni. The walls are cheese blocks. The towers are pasta tubes standing on end. The mortar is mozzarella, stretched and a little tired. Marinara sauce is dripping down the ramparts in the way real castles never quite did. A single ant is hauling a length of rigatoni across the dunes like a log to the building site. He has been doing this for hours. Possibly for his whole life. Two moons hang in the purple sky. One of them is a mozzarella ball wrapped in cheesecloth. The other is a halved tomato. There are also some actual moons but it doesn't seem to matter which is which. A few basil leaves drift on the sauce. Mushrooms grow from the parmesan sand. We don't know what civilization built this place before the ants got here. We don't know what the ants are planning. We assume dinner. Heavyweight garment-dyed cotton, the kind that gets better the more you ignore it. Soft from the first wear, softer after the third, eventually the softest thing you own. Relaxed fit, no side seams, sewn-in label so nothing scratches the back of your neck while you're explaining the shirt to a stranger at the deli counter. Holds up to gardens, hammocks, long drives, longer pasta dinners, and approximately one decade of weekly laundry. Wear it to the Italian restaurant where you know the owner. Wear it to the kitchen when you're making the sauce yourself. Wear it on the days you want to be asked about your shirt and have something to say. The cloth - 100% ring-spun US cotton, pre-shrunk - 6.1 oz heavyweight, garment-dyed for that lived-in hand - Double-needle stitched, tubular construction (no side seams) - S–4XL, sewn-in label, available in many colors The care - Wash cold (max 30°C / 90°F), no bleach - Tumble dry low, iron low, no dry cleaning - Treat it like a friend and it will return the favor