Poem # 18

I go to the gas station at night1

Because I want to take a walk and have somewhere to go.2

I'm not hungry and I'm not out of soda but still I walk,3

Wandering along the aisles desperately wishing I could buy some 4

Truth or Common Sense at one thirty in the morning,5

Or just something to make me less confused and anxious.6

Sedatives, maybe.7

Jasper is in the big bedroom having seizures and tomorrow is his birthday and mom is gone,8

Whisked away on a bad day by her genius but not so smart boyfriend, he's not Peter Pan.9

She chose a bad night to go,10

Kera's in the kitchen depressing everyone who gets too close11

And Molly's passed out on the couch in her bathing suit. 12

I must escape! 13

I muse high-tail it before they realize I'm here and rip my lungs out. 14

I hate school. 15

Where do I have to escape to other than the gas station? 16

Where all the employees are cataloged in my mind by name, face and attractiveness level 17

And I wander the aisles sullenly sipping a 99 cent hot beverage18

Wishing they had truth in stock.19