Laters

See you tomorrow! Peggy shouts.

I peep out the window.

Peggy is a wide woman.

She slams Marla’s front gate shut

and climbs into a car too tiny for her,

the wing mirror attached with tape.

I tiptoe down the stairs

with all my stuff.

In the hall Marla’s handbag

is still dangling from the newel post.

I take from it her purse

and then a tenner,

plastic smooth,

put the purse back again.

And then I am running

out the back door

heading for the seashore.