Ash

it’s always slow, waiting on him to pick me up from work
since I lost my license I can’t drive anywhere
legally, anyways
and of course he won’t let me use the car
I sit outside in the rain, in the heat
in the cold
in the wet
and wait
and wait
and wait
some more
and sometimes he’s late
most times he’s late
but when he is, he tries to make up for it
“let’s get Chinese for dinner.”
usually he tries to make up for it
once, he forgot I got off at nine
and I sat outside of the restaurant
in my uniform
without a jacket, shivering, cold,
cupping a cigarette that I wasn’t even smoking
between my hands for warmth
I sat and sat
and sat
some more
until finally another waitress took pity on me
and drove me home
and
when he asked how work was
“I called out, Andi wanted to go shopping.”