Straight-spined girl—yes, you of the glinting earrings, amber skin and sinuous hair: what happened? you’ve no business lunching with sticky children here at McDonald’s.
Are they yours? How old were you when you had them? You are far too dazzling to be their mother, though I hear them spluttering Mommy Mommy over the Muzak.
Do you plan to squander your precious twenties wiping ketchup dripping from little fingers, drowning your ennui in a Dr. Pepper from the dispenser?
Were I you for one schizophrenic moment, I’d display my pulchritude with a graceful yet dismissive wave to the gathered burghers feeding their faces—
find myself a job as a super-model, get me to those Peloponnesian beaches where I’d preen all day with a jug of ouzo in my bikini.
Would I miss the gummy suburban vinyl, hanker for the Happiest Meal on Main Street? —Wouldn’t one spectacular shrug suffice for begging the question?