god, tired day by 9:30,
i spent morning making noodles and nursing a cold
and spent work morning thinking about lunch and nursing a cold
kids wearing safety sashes helped other kids cross the road to school
they helped me cross the road
even though they didn't say a word to me, or look more than a glance at me
i could hear them think, "he's old; he's independent; he's bearded and scary"
a woman cop smiled at me, i thought about asking for her name
but those kids wouldn't stop talking in their minds about my running nose
so i smiled back, head dense and impenetrable, and crossed the road,
then climbed the half-mile hill to be late for work;
i will be yelled at for it when everyone else gets here.
