ten

I memorized the bus timetable

When I was eight

Just in case

Mum always says

Just in case

So I know I need to walk

All the way to the bus stop

And wait for the bus with the glowy 32

And I know I need to pour exactly

€2.20 into the hole beside the driver

I feel the coins

Lots of little ten cents and twenty cents

And some little copper fives

They’re heavy in my pocket

And I keep my hand

Buried in them

Just in case

They disappear

 

The walk takes twelve minutes

Which is five more minutes

Than usual

Because my feet kept sinking

Into the snow

And in my head

I imagine it is quicksand

And that I am in a jungle

Warm and full of monkeys

And lions and snakes

But then that gets

A little scary

So I stop

And come back to the snow and the cold

 

The bus arrives three minutes after

I get to the bus stop

And I’m the only one there

And there are only four other people inside

So I get the best seat

Right at the front

We speed through town

Through the snow and ice and sludge

And I count Santas

One two three

Four five six

Seven

And half a Santa poking out of a chimney

Seven-and-a-half Santas and nine minutes and the bus stops

And I am there

 

Our town’s library is

Small on the outside

But giant on the inside

Because from the outside

It looks

Just like a normal building

Small and old

With red bricks

That are a little dirty

And super old

But on the inside

There are

Books

Books and books and books and

Books

Piles and stacks and shelves full and overflowing

And when you walk in

And you see all the books

And smell the paper and dust and warmth

You know

It can’t possibly be small

It goes on forever

And ever

 

We haven’t been to the library in a while

Just a little while

The flower beds are covered in snow

So the flowers must be sleeping

Under the ground

And the big tree

That looked like magic in the autumn

Is bare

But it still looks proud

I touch the trunk

And tell the tree it’s doing

Just fine

And not to worry

Its leaves will come back