a perfect crime...

riding the subway today I saw this little girl,
well maybe not so little actually
maybe 10-12 years old,
on the subway with her mother.
her mother had fallen asleep,
and for most of the ride
this young lady sat prim and proper
hands folded on her lap,
crossed over a plastic grocery bag
and her eyes, her eyes watched the world
as it danced before them,
with wonder she absorbed the shuffling and swaying
of life as it moved in and out of the sliding doors.
then all of a sudden she recognized
her mother was asleep
and I watched as her eyes grew bigger
and her hands slowly, silently, slipped into the bag,
the plastic grocery bag that lay just under them.
there was piece of pastry in a plastic container
you know the kind,
you almost have to break it to get your shit out
and in the process may cut yourself,
or, you find yourself in a situation like this poor girl
having to try to open one when you have to have to be quit.
I imagined her and her mother at the market,
doing some shopping, her being told that if she was good
she would get a treat, something nice to eat after dinner,
but only if she was good of course
and that surely meant none before she ate all her dinner.
here she was, her mother asleep, should she go for it?
I’m thinking why not, shit kid at least if you get caught
you get to have a taste and in kid time,
I’m sure there would be more than enough time to lose it
without getting a taste before they get home
let alone before she gets a chance to finish her dinner.
so, she went for it and it looked like it tasted good
as she looked at her mom still sleeping undisturbed
I could see it in her eyes,
see her next piece, her last piece,
after all I could see that it tasted like victory.
she was not greedy, I nodded to her
and pointed out the few crumbs that fallen on her,
I warned her of the evidence, the evidence
that would have blown her perfect little subway caper.
as she wiped them off she looked to her mom
she looked to her out of the corner of her now concerned eyes
and as the evidence disappeared
she breathed easy and turned her thanking eyes
just then it was my stop, and as I was getting of the train
she smiled and I gave her a wee thumb’s up
then the door bell chimed and her mom awoke.

-April 2005