Waitress.
WAITRESS
She tells me her life story instead of taking my order.
Fresh. Nervous. Air-head.
Cute gap between her teeth.
Dumped her vicious twenty-five-year-old boyfriend.
He cried.
She's seventeen.
She swears she's not going to change her mind.
He's gone for good, her mouth says.
But her eyes struggle.
All I wanted was my order taken.
I wonder why she chose me.
I encourage her to not change, to do what's right for her.
I'm glad I took the time.
Razor marks crisscross her wrists as I press a tip into her small palm.
- copyright Stephe Thornton
21 July 2001
She tells me her life story instead of taking my order.
Fresh. Nervous. Air-head.
Cute gap between her teeth.
Dumped her vicious twenty-five-year-old boyfriend.
He cried.
She's seventeen.
She swears she's not going to change her mind.
He's gone for good, her mouth says.
But her eyes struggle.
All I wanted was my order taken.
I wonder why she chose me.
I encourage her to not change, to do what's right for her.
I'm glad I took the time.
Razor marks crisscross her wrists as I press a tip into her small palm.
- copyright Stephe Thornton
21 July 2001