he had the pinkest gums i'd ever seen. 

while we walked with our little frightened girl legs to 11th street wishing this was hookey.

one of them was very fat and they joked about the effects of the medication on their bowel movements. 

none of it was glamorous,

and all of it was loud.

we tried to keep the odor from our nostrils, pervading and comingling windex and terrible luck.

and we kept our mouths hard and shut as we rode the elevator to the fifth floor,

because our saliva was unnaturally hot and would probably turn red

if it was exposed to any kind of air. 

lots of things oozed and three of them had canes.

and they had friendly eyes as we sat in the plastic chairs, jaws that were withering, or would wither on friday.