linking elbows in a town that is not ours
I ask Is this okay?
you pull my arm closer to your body
Where can I get a really good cookie?
you ask
your mouth next to my ear
4 strangers (older than we are)
squeeze by on a narrow strip of sidewalk
we are blessedly anonymous here
I suggest the bakery we've been to before
And if that doesn't work out
I tell you
I know of another place
we like to return to the familiar
but also (or so we tell ourselves)
we are open to the unexpected
we arrive
still arm-in-arm
at the bakery we know
they have exactly the kind of cookie you are craving
But next time we're here
you say
we could try the other place
