Walking across the parking lot
he heard her say to her friend,
“Oh no, they took the car cover
off and just left it there.”
“Want some help picking it up?”
“Thanks. There won’t be any
rattlesnakes under it will there?”
“Where are you from?”
“Milwaukee.”
“How long have you been here?”
“Three weeks.”
He could have kidded her a bit,
but said, “I think we are pretty
safe.”
Her friend called out, “Watch
out for spiders.”
“Or scorpions,” he thought of
saying — like a kid in sixth
grade would have —
but he didn’t.