In the Produce Section at Safeway

 

Megan and I romp about, snatch

fistfuls of bing cherries, apricots—

you pinch at the tomatoes, intent,

testing their give.

 

We burst into giggles,

and then cherry pits are sailing

through the air, perfectly aimed,

past your preoccupation.

 

Mortified, you glance about

for witnesses. “Girls!” you scold,

but you can’t keep the grin

from frisking your lips.

 

We detect your amusement

and it goads us on to further misdeed,

a desperate fix before

returning home.

 

We pursue you down the cereal aisle

where you pretend through stifled

snickers not to know us.

We are bent double

 

with hilarity,

impressing you with the number

of cherries we have managed

to cram into our jeans pockets,

 

taking turns aiming at each other,

lips pursed, firing point-blank.

You smother your smile behind your fingers,

hurry away down the aisle.

 

“You girls,” you say.

 

Each summer at the grocery store

I pause to chew on a cherry,

spit out the pit,

and remember you.

 

                                                Chris McGuire

 

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