Page 16 - Contrast1993Fall

Diner

The thirty-six-year-old waitress
Her smiling eyes

Framed in Mary Kay
Her Maybelline lips

Fiery red
Ate the last bite
Of some customer's left over BLT
As she hopped amongst patrons
Keeping an ear open
For the telephone to ring
Hoping for the long-awaited call
Maybe her parents
Her real parents
Had heard her plea
Maybe they saw her crying eyes

Broadcast
On one of those afternoon talk shows

Calling for a reunion
An explanation for their abandonment

Of the four-year-old girl
Thirty-two years of uncertainty
She just wanted to know why

How could she have recognized
The color of his eyes?
As he ate the last bit
Of his blueberry pie
Did she hear his laugh?
So much like hers

And laughed at her flirtatious wink
Turned and walked

Through the swinging door
Left

While the bell over the door jangled
Walked out of her life
As he had done before

Adam Kline

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