Tick tock, tick tock.
One more minute til I can clock in.
On goes the apron,
and my name badge pin.
Up goes my hair,
pony tail style,
perk up the cheeks,
for the fake prosthetic smile.
I clock in and walk,
small little talk.
Five more minutes til opening,
tick tock, tick tock.
I wipe off the tables,
open the blinds,
look outside,
and there's a small line.
Oh great,
here we go.
It's now twelve,
so let's start the show.
I say my little speech,
and give my little greet,
take down there orders,
and repeat, repeat, repeat.
Not even close,
to being done,
I have one table,
with a Mom and son.
Another with a man,
old,
newspaper in hand.
Both are polite,
funny and nice,
only request,
is a refill with ice.
The old man waves me down,
probably wants the check,
I have it in my grasp,
and make sure it's correct.
I hand it over,
he leans in closer,
and asks me about the lady
at table 480.
He says,
"has she paid for her bill"
I reply, "no not yet,"
"well then put it on my tab,
as a part of my check."
I stood there shocked,
mostly surprised,
cuz in my town,
no one does things of that kind.
His next request,
was to stay unknown,
as he said to me,
in a soft sincere tone.
I changed his total,
a smile cracked,
never met someone so nice,
he replied,
I'm just giving back
The lady with the son,
is now ready to go,
and when I tell her it's taken care of,
she moves really slow.
No longer in a hurry,
her eyes become blurry,
and in her purse,
she begins to scurry.
Looking for cash,
in disbelief,
and with a soft touch,
her arm I reach.
I say it's okay,
you don't have to pay,
someone took care of it,
for you today.
She begs me to tell,
and let her know who,
but I explain,
that's just something I couldn't do.
She understood,
with joy in her eyes,
and then the tears fell,
as she began to cry.
With her sons fingers,
tangled in hers,
they left me with a feeling,
I can't put in words.
I clean off the mans table,
grabbing an empty ranch dip.
I glance at the check,
and he left me thirty dollars tip.
This person,
giving generosity,
with the gratuity of their hand.
Doing it out of sincerity,
this gentle hearted man.
My day of repeat,
comes to a pause,
by the thoughts,
of this individuals cause.
My boss barks
"we just sat you two in the back,"
but this time,
my repeats,
don't seem as bad.

© Copyright 2013 Desiree Sheppard

there was a boy,
sitting under an apple tree
with a calculus textbook on his lap
and headphones dangling

I suppose I fell in love
with the way he nibbled on his chapped fingers
and the way he runs his hands through his messy midnight hair,
his deep sighs as he continues to rub off his mistakes on his calculus homework,
trying to figure out whether x=1 or x= -2.
And I fell in love with the way he snaps his fingers and grins and chuckles softly when victory and justice in that calculus question was prevailed.  

there was something about the way he smiled
that healed her scarred soul

there was something in him that
made the little black butterflies flutter with joy deep inside her

there was something about him
that she simply couldn't explain

something about him that she couldn't figure out, like missing puzzles

He wasn't mine, but I fell in love with him.

If you don't buy me some wine
Then I'm just going to take shots of that **** ***** my cousin bought me
Alone in my room
Until I forget about this week
And finally get some sleep.
You know what...
I'll do that anyways.
Wine or no wine
Today is the day to start
Drinking again.
And making mistakes I can blame on something other than myself.

"Smoking is bad for you."
But so are you.
I breathe you in
deep into my lungs.
You fill my head
with pretty feelings.
You're killing me slowly.
Each time we meet
you touch my lips
and dive right in.
You set my heart racing,
making it hard to breathe.
You're my vice.
I need you
even though I know it's wrong.
I'm addicted.