A pet peeve...

Ten Items
.
Sign says “Ten Items or Less”.
She has at least fifteen
There’s that many in line,
curiously enough.
One would think
she’d be embarrassed,
maybe apologetic.
How she’ll explain
she’s in a hurry
to that harried mother
(who’s maybe all of seventeen)
food stamps firmly clamped
between her teeth,
holding two gallons of
whole milk in one arm
fussing baby in need of
a change in the other
or how her priorities will make
any difference to that guy
at trail’s end, who just wants
to pay for his six pack of cerveza,
slowly warming, pick up some
smokes; it’s been a long day
tending lawns like hers.
Watching cashier hold in
exasperated sigh, as he
probably wonders if diamonds
on fingers make it too hard to
use them to count.
Checks her out as fast as possible
still manages to say “Thank you”.
.