I was a
terrible paper boy
My heart
wasn’t in it
Every
afternoon I was on my bike
Wrestling
with the baskets
Trying to deliver
to all the right people
Always got
my start and stop days wrong
I was
amazed that Berg did it for so long
He never seemed
to have a problem
I had
complaints and missed deliveries
And I was
also always short on money
I was shy
and hated collecting
In the end
it was all worth it
The reason
is The Bond!
The Paper
makes you buy a bond
Like an
insurance policy
Really like
stealing half your check
But I was
twelve and didn’t know better
What happens
when you quit
Is you get
most of that money back
What that
meant was I was rich
So I thought
over my options
Innocently
decided to be generous
Ended up
being something great
I could hold
over my sister
For the
next couple of years
I bought
two plane tickets
To fly to
California to visit grandparents
The second
ticket was for Cassie
I still
don’t think she’s lived it down
The only
thing I could have done more
Based on
the leverage it bought me
Would be
some sort of organ donation
We flew to
Ontario and walked off the plane
To Grandpa
and Grandma waiting with smiles
I got to
do everything I enjoyed
Playing
down at the Catholic school
Waving to
Mr. Water
Candy at
the liquor store
Cruising the
mall unsupervised
I bought a
Pinkwater book
A couple
pounds of white chocolate
Explored
the basement and the office
And all
the other nooks and crannies
Where innumerable
years of cool stuff
Was crammed
and stored at grandma’s house
Waiting
for someone like me to discover
At the end
we drove home with Grandma Roxie
In the
cool short frame Dodge van
Stopped at
Hadley Orchards
For date
shakes and dinner
Walked out
with bags of dates
Heading
back toward Phoenix
We watched
the sun start to set
Over the
Cabazon dinosaurs
Giant
concrete sentinels
Watching the
endless flow of travelers
I was
always sure they would stop one day
Get
bored of the desert
And just walk away
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