Checked Out

How you doin' today? the kid asks as he bags my groceries like a pro.

Dark curly hair and strong hands

a barbed wire tree-of-life etched around his young neck.

He looks at me across the counter and grins,

his brown eyes wide and fearless.

Well, I think to myself . . .

I'm not sleeping as well as I'd like, and I've been wondering lately

if I'm getting too old to stay ahead of the pack.

Truth be told, I'm not even sure I'm in the pack these days . . .

I'm just fine, I say, smiling back at him. And you?

Oh man, he says, I'm doin’ great.

And he means it.

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Published in Northwest Prime Time Magazine, May 2018