Was it Arizona?
Endless road, in flat landscape of shrubs and sand, no
elevations
elevations
no distant ridge of a mountain, no coast and sunlight
gleaming on
gleaming on
a calm ocean.
Trapped, I drove slower and slower, doomed to drive on this
road forever;
road forever;
the thought of getting out and start running, when I saw a
few trees at
few trees at
the distance, soon
some houses too and a petrol station,
some houses too and a petrol station,
I needed to fill up the tank; the attendant wasn’t there
walked over to a café,
walked over to a café,
where an old man sat reading his paper,
didn’t look up when the swing door slammed shut behind him
A fat black woman, behind the counter, was watching daytime
soap on
soap on
an ancient TV set
she turned and looked at me; I said: “coffee please.”
She gave me a cup and said “fifty cents,” turned her massive
back on me,
back on me,
continued watching TV. I looked and out saw the attendant,
hurried out,
hurried out,
wanted to be sure he didn’t take off again; I never drank my
coffee,
coffee,
not that anyone took any notice.
The man looked foreign, and I said: “must be lonely living
out here?”
out here?”
“Yeah, but it sure beats living in Baghdad, the he
murmured.”
murmured.”
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