Charlie Moves

I used to have this one-man moving company
And Charlie hired me to move him
From this apartment he was staying at
To the house he bought

The move didn't take too long
Because he only had about two rooms
Full of stuff

I asked him why he didn't just stay in his apartment
And he said he had a daughter
And he wanted her to want to come visit him
In a nice house
Instead of a run-down bachelorpad

I told him I see my daughter twice a year
When her mother flies into town
To see her parents for Christmas and the 4th of July

The kid calls me by my first name
Lets me buy her ice cream
And then tells me all about her mother's
Boyfriend-of-the-week

I could see Charlie looking at me
Like I was describing his version of Hell

'Don't worry,' I said, 'You'd have to break a lot of mirrors to have the luck I got.  Your kid'll probably turn out fine.'

I'm a good liar
When I want to be

Once I was done helping Charlie move
He cut me a check
And then asked if I wanted a soda
Or a sandwich or something

I was gonna say that wasn't necessary
But I could see him looking around that big empty house
Like a lost kid in a mall

So I said, 'Sure, a Coke would be great.'

We sat in his two matching recliners
And talked about stuff

After about an hour or so
I said--

'You think you're gonna be okay by yourself here, Charlie?'

He looked around
His living room

It had these white square patches on the walls
Where photos must have hung
Of the people who lived there before

'I guess I'll have to be,' he said

I gave him a pat on the back
And went to my next job

A few hours later
I drove by Charlie's new house
To see how he was doing

I parked on the street outside
And saw the light in the kitchen was on

Charlie was sitting there
At his table
Eating a bowl of cereal

You ever wonder what a word looks like?

Like an adjective?

You know those words that don't have pictures

Happiness
Joy
Anger

You know how sometimes you read those surveys
Where they ask you what happiness is?

And someone says--A butterfly
And someone says--A baby laughing
And someone says--Home

Well, I was looking in that window
At Charlie sitting
Eating cereal

And I thought--that's loneliness

That's exactly what it is

And I started up my car again
And drove away