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A Thief in the Night

A Thief in the Night

I went

to get in my car

yesterday

and opened the door

to stuff strewn

and my first thought was

I can’t believe she left it like this

thinking my daughter had rifled through the car

looking for her sunglasses

but she denied it

so my next thought was

I can’t believe he left it like this

thinking my husband had rifled through the car

looking for who-knows-what

but he denied it

then it hit me

somebody done broke in my car!

but they didn’t have to pry the door open

‘cause I leave my doors unlocked

yeah, yeah, yeah

I know

jest one more thing to have to remember to do

now

after I processed the situation

I couldn’t help but laugh

‘cause this guy picked the wrong vehicle

to pocket

when he opened the console

he probably thought to himself

what the L is all this crap!

he was looking for the good stuff

but all he saw  

was a jam-packed mess

of miscellaneous

nothing

not worth a cent on the Internet

or the pawn shop

it was like somebody opening my closet

and getting hit by an avalanche

he didn’t even get to the bottom

he got halfway through the console

and was like

the L with this … I ain’t got time for this!

I mean I’m a little insulted

he gave up that quick

I coulda had a brick of gold

at the bottom of my console

it mighta been plastic

but still

then I got to thinking

about this person

who goes around lifting handles

in driveways

‘til he finds one open

I mean you gotta be in a desperate situation

or something

if you’re going around in the dark of night

checking car doors

from house to house

looking for something to sell

and make a quick buck

it’s a big risk

with little reward

I mean

come on

you could get shot

“in the buttocks”

or put in jail

JAIL

is it really worth it

yeah, no

how do you become

a thief in the night

it doesn’t happen overnight

a series of events

lead to a fork in the road

and you gotta choose quick-like

given your situation

which way to go

if you’ve got nothing to lose

you’ve got nothing to lose

if you’ve got everything to lose

you’ve got everything to lose

it all depends

I hope this guy woke up

this morning thinking

I’m tired of this shhhhhh …

it ain’t worth it

no more

TL

Published inPoetry