Checked “Yes”
She filled in the details
with the strictest obedience to truth,
hopeful she found a solution to
It Was Just One Time;
after all, if she lied
— and she had tried this before —
eventually, they
found out. But
it was different this time; she had
a sense this was the opportunity;
the job, or, if not the job, the training, or
a way to pay for the training to
give her the skills to do the job. Setting
aside doubt, she beleaguered down the page,
covering up the possibility of no with the black ink pen
provided by the perfumed clerk in stilettos
sitting behind the desk. She believed
there was a way to break through It Was Just One Time,
so, in faith, her hand followed the practiced path,
her thoughts fixed on the possibility of 9 to 5;
a bank account balance in triple digits;
her name proudly printed across
the top of the bank statement sitting
in her very own mailbox. She dreamed of
filling up her shopping cart at the Dollar Store
without counting the cans and boxes;
buying baby food from Walmart when
the food card expired at
the end of the month. It
would take the perfect combination, this
she knew: the right day, the right time,
the right place, the right opportunity, so
she focused on maybe, building momentum,
her busy hand filling in the spaces,
moving down the page, until
she arrived at the bottom, where
one box, checked “yes,”
sent her back to It Was Just One Time and
the one-half of a gram she could never
move beyond.
