Dusty needed a job, he must have, because
no sane man brews coffee at four A.M.
for wheel twisting, peddle pushing, demented drivers.

Dusty kept a cigarette behind each ear,
reeked of a Sunday afternoon, roadside beer bottle,
wore goatee scruff and vomit teeth un-brushed in his head.

Dusty poured a flask into a twenty-ounce cup
and covered the secret with four A.M. coffee.
His background check did not dig too deep.

Dusty rolled off the rubber band
when the morning paper hit the door,
went straight to page three paradise.

Dusty pointed at his own mug shot. “That’s me,”
he said proud of slight celebrity status:
Arrested for inciting violence and assault with a deadly weapon:
a beer bottle.

Dusty found his wife in the men’s room
not alone.

Dusty douched his mouth with coffee, gurgled, swallowed and
unholstered his cigarettes to take a state-approved smoke break.