This Place

This place is not the first place

or the last place, You’re thinking.

In any case, it’s is not the best

or worse place to go. You only

know that there will be more

places yet to go. Four walls,

a dingy smoke layered color,

an old musty spread, the 16-inch

TV on the bureau at the foot

of the bed. A cheap pastoral

landscape print screwed

to the wall overhead. Who

in hell would want to steal

such a tacky thing, anyway?

Bathroom to the left, entrance

and exit to the right. Gideon

Bible in the nightstand drawer,

a phone and clock radio, red

L.E.D. light. Your safe haven

for the night. You have come

this far, and have quite a ways

to go. You crack the seal on

a cheap fifth of Popov

Voka and take a large gulp, a

burning warm sensation going

down. You prop up the pillow

against the headboard, reach

for the remote and turn on TV—

Alex Trebek and Jeopardy.

Might as well be in Pittsburg

or St. Louis, Salt Lake City,

or anywhere, USA, but you’re

not. You’re somewhere out there

in between. Just another place,

not the first or last place, not the

best place, surely down there

among the worst. Another hefty

swig from the bottle. “I’ll take

Movies for 2-hundred, Alex…”

It’s a damned re-run. You already

know the answers, don’t you?

You’ve heard them all before.

You change the channel and light

on Entertainment Tonight.

                         -30-

Chris Hanch 5-12-2020