The Crack Smoking Car

I got on the blue line
at about 7:30 in the morning

it was Sunday
so there were very few people in my car

a couple
of middle-aged Ukrainian women

a stocky Mexican lady
with sad puppy dog eyes

and a bad drunk
a homeless man with long greasy white hair
and a weathered face like an old bike seat

he looked at me
and said

"Hey you! This is a crack smoking car!
If you're gonna be on this car you gotta smoke crack!
It's...up to you..."

he dropped his head

either nodding off
or holding back puke

the middle-aged Ukrainian ladies kept talking
in what seemed like an endless stream
of Borscht Belt bullshit

the Mexican lady
looked out the window

at nothing

at the wall going by

when I got up to leave

the bike seat

looked at me

and mumbled something

I couldn't make out

maybe about crack

maybe how to cook a good stuffed pepper

but the doors closed

and I never knew

© 2011 Lee Kitzis