Scalper by Jon Bennett by Jon Bennett

 “Come with me” 
The man was 25 yrs my junior 
with a couple years sober 
and I was new 
so after the meeting 
he took me to his apartment
“Babe, this is, um, John,” he said  
“Not again,” said his girlfriend 
“What are we doing here?” I asked 
He sat me at the kitchen table 
opened a new AA big book 
inscribed it and gave it to me 
I guess that’s what we were doing 
His name was Dylan 
I don’t like that name 
it’s already being used 
and I didn’t like how pretty 
his girlfriend was 
it made me want to drink 
although everything  
made me want to drink
He told me his entire family 
were ticket scalpers 
in a rustbelt city,  
Toledo or Des Moines, 
and he got strung on Xanax 
because if you have 
a lot of time and a lot of money 
you need something to do
His scalping business was  
easy and sleazy 
and his girlfriend was an engineer
so it made sense 
when I heard they broke up 
and he moved back to Toledo 
or Des Moines 
to wait in front of stadiums 
and hock tickets to teeny boppers
He was a weed  
trying to become a flower 
Maybe he made it.

Jon Bennett writes and plays music in what once was San Francisco.