Nirvana, by Charles Bukowski
not much chance,
completely cut loose from
purpose,
he was a young man
riding a bus
through North Carolina
on the way to somewhere
and it began to snow
and the bus stopped
at a little cafe
in the hills
and the passengers
entered.
he sat at the counter
with the others,
he ordered and the
food arrived.
the meal was
particularly
good
and the
coffee.
the waitress was
unlike the women
he had
known.
she was unaffected,
there was a natural
humor which came
from her.
the fry cook said
crazy things.
the dishwasher.
in back,
laughed, a good
clean
pleasant
laugh.
the young man watched
the snow through the
windows.
he wanted to stay
in that cafe
forever.
the curious feeling
swam through him
that everything
was
beautiful
there,
that it would always
stay beautiful
there.
then the bus driver
told the passengers
that it was time
to board.
the young man
thought, I'll just sit
here, I'll just stay
here.
but then
he rose and followed
the others into the
bus.
he found his seat
and looked at the cafe
through the bus
window.
then the bus moved
off, down a curve,
downward, out of
the hills.
the young man
looked straight
forward.
he heard the other
passengers
speaking
of other things,
or they were
reading
or
attempting to
sleep.
they had not
noticed
the
magic.
the young man
put his head to
one side,
closed his
eyes,
pretended to
sleep.
there was nothing
else to do-
just to listen to the
sound of the
engine,
the sound of the
tires
in the
snow.
Missing my son, by Tom Waits
I was in a line at a supermarket the other day, and um, y'know, I had all my things on the little conveyor belt there. And uh, there's a gal in front of me that is uh, well, she's staring at me and I'm getting a little nervous and uh, she continues to stare at me. And I, uh, I keep looking the other way.
And then finally she comes over closer to me and she says, "I apologize for staring, that must have been annoying. I... You look so much like my son who died. I just can't take my eyes off you." And she proceeds to go into her purse and she pulls out a photograph of her son who died, and uh...
He looks absolutely nothing like me. In fact he's... Chinese. Uh, anyway, we chatted a little bit. And uh, she says, "I'm sorry, I have to ask you. Would you mind, as I leave the supermarket here, would you mind saying 'Goodbye mom' to me? I know it's a strange request but I haven't heard my son say 'Goodbye mom' to me in so long. It would mean so much to me to hear it. And uh, if you don't mind, I..."
And I said, "Well, you know... okay. Yeah sure. Uh, I can say that." And so, she, uh, gets her groceries all checked out. And uh, as she's going out the door, she waves at me and she hollers across the store, "Goodbye son!" And I look up and I wave and I say, "Goodbye mom!" And then she goes, and uh...
So I get my few things there on the conveyor belt and the checker checks out my things. And uh, and he gives me the total and he says, "That'll be four hundred and seventy nine dollars". Um, and I said, "Well, how is that possible?! I've only got a little tuna fish, and uh, some skimmed milk, and uh, mustard, and a loaf of bread."
He goes, "Well, you're also paying for the groceries for your mother. She uh, told me you'd take care of the bill for her." And I said, "Well, wait a minute! That's not my mother!" And he says, "Well, I distinctly heard her say as she left the store 'Bye son!' and you said 'Bye mom!' and so what are you trying to say here?" I said, "Well, Jesus!"
And I looked out into the parking lot and she was just getting into her car. And I ran out there. And she was just closing the door, and she had a little bit of her leg sticking out of the door as she was pulling away. And I grabbed her leg and I started *pulling* it!
Just the way...
I'm pulling yours.
