Degrees of Mistake
He was an
elderly gentleman
in a
gray suit
wearing a
hat with a
feather in it
sitting parked
in one of
those hybrid
cars about
as big as
a shoe box
& when a
car full of
teenagers
cruised by
shouting obscenities
& making
lewd gestures
out their
rolled down
windows he
fired up
his engine &
gave pursuit.
They pulled over
after a
block or
so &
so did he
& when
three of
them got
out &
started back
toward him
he got out
too with a
sawed-off shotgun.
“What the
fuck do
you think
you’re going
to do
with that,
old man?”
one of them
said &
continued on
toward him,
not the
first mistake
he’d made
that day
but definitely
the biggest.