She staggers across the
street, trips and falls
onto the sidewalk.
I consider picking her up.
A car stops and Mrs. Good Person
gets out and helps the girl to her feet.
The girl plops herself down
on the bench beside me.
A not unattractive girl.
"Been drinking, huh?"
"Yup."
She digs into her purse, holds up
a cigarette: "got a light?"
"No. I don't."
She calls by name a guy walking by--a can-
collector.
A howling ambulance blows past.
"Yay," she says, "it is not for me."
"It will be."
If I could get her into the woods--
the ash end of her butt extends
like a crooked pinky finger.
When the ash falls I brush it from
her thigh.
If only we were at my place--
(but I do not want her to know where I live.
But would she even remember?)
"I need to stop drinking," she says.
"Go to AA."
"I need a light," she says.
After standing, she totters off; her.
interest in me at an end.
Wayne F. Burke lives in Vermont (USA). In October, 2026. his novel THE SPREAD will be published by Alien Buddha Press.
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