Even if you’re not there long, you’re there long enough
to stop for gas, grab a soda and spend a few minutes in line.  

The women ahead of you won’t look like much.
One will spend $30 on lotto tickets  

and when you mention to the other that the store seems warm,
she’ll give you more of an answer than you looked for:  

Our place hasn’t had heat since Charlie hit –
all the sockets don’t work and our water is muddy.  

And we have a hole in our roof.
And the landlord raised the rent.  

And there you’ll be, as cold soda eases down
a throat too parched for words,  

leaving town down the main drag,
the drive home taking way too long.

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