A boy needed a ride home today
so he ordered me on his phone
you're supposed to be an adult to ride
but it's hard to look at a kid and say
no
I can't take you where you need to go today
so he stumbled in
told me he just got a haircut
and had his ears pierced
we talked about cars
his dad has a Volkswagen
he asked me if I believed in spirits
and I told him not so much
he said he did
asked me if I wanted to know why
I said okay
he told me he believed in spirits
because his sister was taken over by one
she died last year
he said
I went to turn
and he ushered me to go straight
into the neighborhood
then take a left
said the other way would take us an extra fifteen minutes
his way was shorter
but only by a moment
ten or twenty seconds maybe
he held a bag of chips in his hand
left me a tip of five dollars
said he wished he had more
I don't know if the money was his
but I didn't want it.
Jason Brendel
Jason Brendel is an author, poet, and comedian from Northern California. You can follow him on instagram @jasonbrendel.
