No Loitering

LEISURE WORLD,
my grandfather's store
still unerased along
the main drag, never re-
claimed after he went to
jail for tax evasion and
found the lord.

Unlike Fred's where my
mother hid from her classmates
while shopping. She found my
father in LEISURE WORLD,
knew his family name, walked through
aisles and racks with aspiration.
"There is still time for me," to
learn how to ski, to buy these
shorts, to wear those Nike's, to
do whatever people do with the
things that bring them to this
store.

"I am at this store!" my mother
screams, and my father's father
takes notice. "Not Fred's where my
mother shops, not the liquor store
where my sister meets the love her
life on Tuesdays and Wednesdays."
I can walk here. I can get a ride.


My father's father looks at my mother
his customer and asks, "But for how
long can you come to this store?"
My mother searches her pockets,
and buys baseball cards and football
cards. She asks for money from her mother.
She buys a pack every two days, and puts them
away, never opening.