A Moment in Tallahassee

A waiter hands her the check

With his phone number on it

And she tucks it in her purse

Before Daniel can return to the table

He asks her if she’s ready to go

And she says that she is

And they get into the car

And drive back to the house

They’re renting

From Daniel’s Aunt Susan

She ferrets the phone number

Out of her purse

Once Daniel is asleep

After a rudimentary bout of lovemaking

Followed by him eating leftovers

While she sipped cold coffee

She forgot in the fridge

That afternoon

He confided in her that the waiter

From the restaurant earlier

Was probably gay

And this made him uncomfortable

Because gay men always liked to flirt with him

And for a second, she panicked

And thought maybe the phone number

Was for Daniel

But once he fell asleep
She took it into the bathroom

And looked at it

And there was her name

The waiter’s phone number (presumably)

And a simple ‘Call me’

So she called him

He answered the phone

As if he’d been sleeping for hours

Even though it was far more likely

He’d just gotten off work

She told him who she was

And he asked her to meet him

By the manmade pond

Off Ricotaw Boulevard

On the western part

Of Tallahassee

She left Daniel a note

That said she had to go to the market

And if he woke up

He wouldn’t ask questions

Because he assumed

Going to the market

Was something that every woman had to do

All the time

Even in the middle of the night

When the kitchen was overflowing with food

And they were still going out to restaurants

Because who felt like cooking

When the world was going to Hell?

She met the waiter by the manmade pond

Next to the nice hotel

That went up a month earlier

And was already scheduled to close

Because the last thing the world needed

Was another hotel

Situated by a pond

That wasn’t real

When not enough things are real

And the things that are

End up being far too disappointing

She held the waiter’s hand

And he slipped his tongue in her ear

And that’s when she realized

He was much too young for her

And they shook hands

And went their separate ways

On the way home, she turned on the radio

And, because she hadn’t listened to the radio in years,

She found it comforting

The way you’d find a childhood stuffed animal comforting

Or a bowl of chicken noodle soup

She drove the car onto the lawn

Walked into her house

With the door wide open
And wondered what it would take

To have a real moment

Now that everything was utterly fucked

The headlights from her car

Shone in through the living room windows

And a dog barked next door

That would probably be dead tomorrow

After eating some poisonous plant

Nobody knew was growing up

In the woods behind the houses

In the cul de sac

Where she lived

She was going to sit and wait for Daniel to wake up
And then she was going to demand

That he get her out of Tallahassee

Away from a place where she couldn’t create a moment

Even when a moment was begging to be born

And instead

Take her somewhere

Anywhere

Else