the kids were playing
on the couch in the
second hand furniture store.
trying to behave.
they had grape popsicle
juice on their fingers.
the sales guy was
trying to keep his
friendly face on
while he clenched
his fist behind his back.
he hadn't made a sale
since monday and
the rent was due.
-yesterday.
the kid's young mother
had no intention
to buy a nubby couch
or faux terra cotta
table lamp. it was
ninety in the shade
and they were still
half a mile from
the one bedroom
in-law cottage
belonging to her
boyfriend's mother.
a few minutes browsing
in the cool of the shop
was all she had in mind.
the baby clutched
a pale throw pillow
and brought the corner
towards his sticky purple mouth,
his mother snatched it from him
just in time, scolding -don't!
she looked at the sales guy
whose smile was about two seconds
away from shattering
-sorry mister.
the other kid, the four year old,
had spotted a big art glass bowl
filled with multi-colored glass spheres.
she reached eagerly for
a red one. it dropped on the floor
and rolled towards a cluster
of floor lamps and coat racks...
by her twenty first birthday, she'd become
a professional bowling champion
and moved to waukegan, illinois.
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