Moonshine glows faintly  on Bitch-face Cathy, Front-end Manager's fresh, green del sol
(which she doesn't deserve)
off in the dark somewhere
by the alley where a girl with a name that doesn't matter anymore was butchered
eleven years ago.

A weary couple just off from work indulge in a little A&P brand California Roll
in his burgundy Volvo
before he has to drive her home.
She feels safe.
They don't know it yet, but tonight's the night they will "fall in love"
over what they call "sushi."

The 81 year-old generic Sister of Nondescript Bleeding Nameless Virgin's Wounds sits
just outside the door with a shallow chauffeur's cap in her lap.
If you put money in it, she blesses you.
If you don't, she doesn't…
and you're sure to die shamefully in some sort of political scandal on the way home.

Ted, a fourteen year-old bag boy, fishes in his pocket and finds six cents.
The nun blesses him.
He sighs and pushes the hair out of his eyes as he ventures out into the night,
surveying the overabundance of carts in the lot.

Ted pops a red.
The stars swim a little.
The night gets shorter.

A Micro-Machineä truck on big wheels screams past Ted and into a space
just slow enough for him to catch the confederate flag in the rear window.
The two inside are a weary couple just off from work.
Bud and Virgil argue about which of them is more of an asshole.
They don't know it, but tonight's the night they'll "fall in love"
in the back of a pick-up truck over a couple of forties to the tune of "Muskrat Love."

Twelve-year-old Betty sits in her dad's '84 metallic blue Blazer fuming.
She's been crying.
"No Virgil, you're the asshole," says Bud.
"No Dad, you're the asshole," thinks Betty.
Ted flashes her a smile.
Betty flashes him the finger.

The lady who always pays with the check from St. Ceceilia's         
(but never has enough to pay for her own food)
fumbles for her keys.
She smiles at the blessed Sister.
(She doesn't have any money.)
The blessed Sister nods.
Ted helps her carry her bags to the wood-paneled station wagon
oxidizing in the wake of a green del sol.
She blesses him.

(6 December 1997)

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