Rats

"Tell me about it," he said

With a voice like sandpaper plywood

Elemental and strange

So flabbergasted, I couldn't even figure out how to exit the 50s-style aluminum pipe diner

But I creaked my neck around just the same

To see if I could get eyes on the escape valve

Nodding and muttering an almost imperceptible

"Thank you, my man"

A hop, jump, flash and I was out the door

Back on steam and concrete

Waiting for Shelby to text me runaround coordinates

Feeling like jail on my eyelids

And spitting white ash from my nose

In the blinding sun, I could finally now see where I was

Desolation street

Business town, U.S.A.

I cursed Shelby 'cause I needed somewhere to be

No supermarkets here

Just designer toothpaste headboards and a bucket load of creeps

Popping their sockets to get a look at the trash heap divas from the safety of their adult arcades

Two fingers for world peace and deliverance

Two fingers for the cafe in absentia

I catch a glimpse of myself in first-floor skyscraper glass

Jesus, man, I look like a digital ghost

I bristle and pop my raincoat against my neck

The water starts to roll

And I'm standing there shivering in my shoes

Where's a friend when you need one?

In the budget electric light store, I see an image of radio heat

Neon angel like the one in the movies

I stop and stare

For a moment, I'm no longer too tired to talk

I'm not even living in that second

I whispered something just to make sure I was still there

I was still there, rats