Country Store

She watches him sitting
by the old cast-iron stove,
she only kept it because
it had always been there,
central has been put in
years before. Slightly slumped
he holds his Styrofoam cup,
black coffee straight,
and stares waiting at the
street. He makes her
nervous she knows it’s
foolish he was innocent but
inside ten years who knew
what had happened what he
was like what he’d become or
the anger bottled up the
injustice done and we all did it.
He glances at his watch and
then she knows he’s waiting
for the bus from Billings it
was due in but usually late she
hopes not today.