Posted by Atticus on August 25, 2004, at 19:42:16
Bob to Register Three
The long white strip
Of printout paper
Looks like
Piranhas
Have been gnawing on it
When the kid
In the green apron
And the striped
Paper hat
Finally pops the lid
Of the machine
And stands there,
Hands on hips,
Brow knitted,
Like a novice auto mechanic
Staring under a car’s hood,
Looking intently
At the tangled wreckage
Of the thin ribbon of white
Enmeshed
In metallic guts
Like an origami tapeworm.He glances
At the growing horde
Of shoppers
In the express line,
Humans fused
Into a one long centipede
Issuing a rising,
Collective grumble,
Then swallows,
Holds down
A silver button,
Leans into a mike,
And calls
Upon his master
To deliver him
From this angry
Hive-mind
With the words,
"Bob to register three,
Bob to register three."The kid blinks nervous
Morse code,
One SOS after another,
At the door
To the manager’s office,
Then visibly relaxes
As Bob
Emerges
And begins
The long trek
From register twelve,
Trudging
With obvious weariness
To see just what
The kid
Has fu**ed up now.As he arrives
And surveys
The carnage,
He shoots me
A look
From the left corners
Of his dark eyes,
His lips pursed
In a bemused
Expression
That faintly suggests
The Mona Lisa’s
Smile
Pasted onto
Edvard Munch’s
“The Scream.”
The white glare
From the fluorescents
Flying in formation
Overhead
Temporarily
Obscures
The right side
Of his face,
Causing the flesh
To fade
From sight,
Gradating
Into invisibility.Bob begins picking
At the tortuously wound
Roll of register tape,
Attempting to ease
This modern-day version
Of the Gordian knot
From its passionate embrace
With the machine’s
Oily innards.
The colony animal
Stretching behind
My mother
And I
Grows ever more restive
As Bob attempts
One stratagem
After another
To extract
The paper
Without tearing it
To bits.He raises his head
And asks the
Snarling shoppers
To please be patient,
To please be courteous,
To please (knock off all
Their fu**ing bit*hing)
Be civil.
I can’t contain
My grin,
And my mother
Asks what’s so funny.
"Nothing," I answer,
"Just daydreaming,"
Before adding,
"The meds must
Be working,"
And she nods,
Reassured.The guy behind us
Snaps,
“I shoulda
Gotten on
Another line,”
And Bob sighs,
Murmuring,
“And I shoulda
Been a doctor.”
-- Atticus
poster:Atticus
thread:382338
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/write/20040729/msgs/382338.html