Home Town in November

             

  Driving in, three hours ahead of appointment

  So, I could have a look around

  Lunch is a deluxe cheese burger at Eagen’s

  the burger stand of my youth

  that’s made the same food for

  over 50 years

  Burger tastes the same and

  I am gratified by the familiarity

  Drive downtown to favorite funky

  gift shop, established by

  two sisters after their parents

  were killed in an auto

  accident-years ago

                         

  Still has unusual selection

  but gifts seem a little less

  well made and higher priced-

  I find a nun game to replace

  The Virgin Mary toy I’d hoped for

  It’s a Catholic thing for

  my Catholic friend

  I buy three monkey finger puppets

  for my grandson and

  a book on magic money tricks

  for a young friend

  Then I wander out and down

  the street, find a pie shop

  I purchase a cut of raspberry-

  peach pie, ala-mode

  I eat it with only a glass of

  water, so I can go to

  another shop for coffee

  The house coffee is still

  outstanding at Batdorf’s and

   I enjoy it immensely in

   a cushy leather chair in

   front of a scintillating fire

    And then he walks in-

    a ghost from my past, a beau

    from over 30 years ago

    our eyes meet in instant

    recognition

   He nods and walks the other way

   but not before waving his left hand

   in the air to show that

   he is not available

   I nod and smile, then

   shake my head back and forth

   and look at the ceiling

    He is older, but recognizable

   and still has a little spring

   to his step

   I go back to reading the newspaper

   glad he’s unavailable-
    In the pause to catch my breath,

    I remember our painful breakup

    how he’d replaced me and

   then said, ‘good-bye’

    Finally, I was okay not

    looking back and as he

    walked out, I noticed

    a once great ass- had fallen


From my chapbook "Love Roulette"
available upon request.
Raintreepoet