A Red Box...

.
She searched through the cupboards again
she might have missed something.
But she hadn’t.

Alone on the shelf
sat a half empty jar
of peanut butter.

And at the table
sat five children.

She searched through her purse.
Four pennies.
She ran her hand down
between the cushions on the sofa.
What’s this?
A Nickel? Yes, her heart leapt.
Hope surged where none had been.
"God don’t let me down."
Nine cents. What can you buy
with nine cents?
She continued the search,
in the medicine chest.
her housecoat pocket
the toy box.
And then in the window sill
behind the bed
she spotted something
gleaming in the sun.
Three pennies.
Three pennies.
Now she had twelve cents
wrapped in a handkerchief
clutched in her hand
she walked to the store.

Twelve cents.
"What can I get for twelve cents?
Bread? No that’s thirty-one cents.
Muffin mix? Sometimes it’s on sale
five for a dollar.
No. That would be twenty cents."
Searching..

there on the shelf
sat a single box of crackers.
Crackers?
She checked the price.
Twelve cents.

Sometimes
a feast
comes in a red box.

©Vrd9/6/99