he’d drive all over town at all hours of the night…couldn’t stand bein’ in bed by himself…tried to sleep…took several different kinds of pills…nothin’ ever worked…so he’d just drive…

drove over to the Walmart out on Lima Road…sat there in the parkin’ lot lookin’ at all the different cars…beat up Chevys…old Fords…rusted out SUV’s…some newer cars too… Hondas and Kias…shiny pickup trucks…he sat there in his old white Dodge…rollin’ cigarettes from a bag of loose tobacco…chain smokin’ the whole time…

and he was amazed at how many shoppers there were at midnight…mom’s pushin’ babies in shoppin’ carts…men carryin’ bags of groceries…filled to the top with deep fried chicken and frozen pizzas…case of Pepsi in the other hand…he just sat there lookin’…just lookin’…

thought ’bout goin’ inside and fillin’ out an application…bein’ a Walmart greeter…standin’ at the front of the store all proud with a blue vest on…sayin’…,Hello…Welcome to Walmart…,smilin’ real big…he thought ’bout it…then he’d pull ‘nother PBR from down below his seat…sipped on it with his hand wrapped ’round the label…lukewarm…

there were all these thoughts goin’ through his head…thoughts he couldn’t get rid of…pictures cluttered his mind…like a movie showin’ different parts of his life…high school girlfriends…chippin’ away ice onna basketball court down the street from where he grew up…old friends he didn’t see anymore…passed away parents…an old dog he got at the pound…

he’d talk to himself and sometimes sing along to the songs on the country radio station…an old Merle Haggard song…some song ’bout loosin’ love…watchin’ it walk right out the door…right out the door…

that’s what he did…long time ago…she said let me be free…so he did…never to fall in love again…never…

just drove ’round town pickin’ a different parkin’ lot every night…sometimes Safeway…other times Piggly Wiggly…and on some nights when the moon was right…he’d park at the Walmart…and just let the purple sky turn orange…