Cayce Bat
Waiting
In the car outside the CVS while her boyfriend runs inside
to buy the pregnancy test.
She's two weeks late—she's been waiting—but tonight
he touched her. She panicked. Told him. Cried.
She's freshly showered. Her damp hair is wrapped in a towel;
she wears her college shirt, sweat pants, flip-flops,
looks down, hoping no one will notice her.
It's midnight, turning tomorrow in the 24-hour drugstore.
He parked under a street light, locked the car doors.
Left her for a minute tonight. He's running. She's waiting.
This is how we spend our lives.
Bio
I am a first-year teacher at an inner city school in Columbia, South Carolina. I earned an undergraduate degree in journalism and mass communications from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Arts in Teaching in secondary English from Winthrop University. I am from Rock Hill, South Carolina, and currently reside in West Columbia.