Feverish, I had walked through the heat
Antibiotics to fight the battle within me
Waited for me at a counter
I had never been there
And walked passed the stairs
What kind of drugstore has an upstairs
The security person redirected me
I got my medicine and looked around
Finding readers
I took them downstairs with me
After looking to see in every corner
What I might need in the future
It’s within walking distance
Easy to get to
Easy to pass by there coming or going
From the campus, the park, the wherever
Security guy approached
You don’t want to buy those here
He said as I looked at the set of colored pencils
In a back corner
I worked security and loss prevention
I know what he’s thinking
It’s the middle of the work day
I have a visible tattoo and wild hair
And a feverish sheen
From the fever
I’m in a back corner holding a paper bag
With my prescription in it
And readers he thinks I can’t afford
After having moved swiftly through
Every high value (and low value) area
Of the store
He gently takes them from my hand
The readers
I walk with him away from the colored pencils
He is a hero saving the store from theft
In his mind
And he has in reality thwarted the sale of both the readers
And the colored pencils
I let him play out his story
“I thought they were like just $3.”
I tell him
I’m feverish, but not above a little fun
We walk back upstairs where he shows me
The prices
“I must have been looking at the strength and thought
it was the cost”
I tell him
Go to another store, he names a competitor
You can get them there for less
I wonder if his managers know he is throwing sales away
He will tell them he prevented theft
I leave frustrated with no readers
Which I need if I’m to go swimming with one of my friends
And wear my contacts
No colored pencils to shade in my drawings
Full of regret and longing but needing to rest
And take my medicine and cool off
My roommate dropped by there a few days later
What did you need here? she texted
I tell her where the colored pencils are in the store
She brings home a 3-pack of readers too
Because we both need them at times
My fever is gone
The pencils are treasured now
And that guy, he may never know
How close he was to something wonderful
Someone valuable
He may never know that things are not always
What they seem
That sometimes we need readers
To see clearly
Sooner rather than later
Even if the cost is a little more
