Families
One day Elaine began
when i went to the PO to mail back
my Zappos shoes, misguided notion
that I would wear walking shoes
they made my feet look like
clay pots
one day nine years ago
Elaine said and then
she repeated NINE YEARS for emphasis
Elaine talked to 198 Box Holders
in our small town
all day
one day Fred who works
at the Coxsackie post office asked if his girlfriend
could drop off her two boys
at our above ground pool.
It was pool hot and of course
I said sure. When I got home from work
the boys were there. Malik and John. Don't
ask me why they called them that.
Their mother was gone.
Forever. Fred never saw her again either.
Maybe he'd guessed she heard I
was a good person. The boys never
saw her again. We hired
a detective but she seemed to vanish.
I went to court to adopt them.
Families, she said. I
love those boys.