USA

Devil's Cut

Aunt Doris, savvy, silly, interested
In me, in us, in fun.

She baby sits us four one summer.
Triple digit heat, broken TV.
Gravel road residue on the porch,
Hot bicycle metal on our legs.

"If you're good today, I'll
Take you to Devil's Cut."

We four,
Look for nickels and dimes and pennies.
We find:
Four pennies standing against the baseboard under
The bunk bed.
Two nickels in the closet beside Malibu Barbie.

"We gotta have a dollar to get into the creek."

Sister discovers a dime and a quarter-sized dust disk
Tucked in the living room vinyl couch.
Other sister has ten pennies in her new purse.
Brother sweeps the speckled linoleum kitchen floor,
Uncovers a dime in the cracked macaroni and Corn Flakes' mixture.

At the Devil's Cut sign,
We turn down the road--trees bowing to us.
it gets cooler. We smell the water.

We see the old Indian man
Backed up to a blackjack.

We stop.
He puts out his hand that looks like creek tributaries.
"Four cents short," he says.

Aunt Doris searching
Under the seats for the price of
Pleasure.

"Darn! Old man! Ninety-six cents is enough!"

Five hours later and swum-out,
We wave at old Devil's Cut man
Leaning against his tree.

© All Copyright, Roxann Grissom.
All Rights Reserved. Printed By Permission.