Equalizers

Equalizers, things we can depend
on whether we are home or on
the road: that there will be a certain
courtesy extended by the people whom
we meet because our culture's grounded
in a basic decency, that waitresses will
sometimes try too hard to bond with customers
in hopes of getting bigger tips, that bonds
with customers will not negate the fact
that someone who is thirsty gets forgotten
by their waitress while she bonds at
someone else's table (and thus, a bigger
tip is lost), that coffee in the morning
is a good thing, whether it was made
with water from the pipes that snake
through more familiar walls or somewhere
else, that I am just as likely to get turned
around with good directions or a GPS,
that sometimes people need to spend a day
where no one knows them and they get
to breathe in lighter, fresher air.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014