Seat No. 238

I’d never heard it quite like that before
though I’d never heard it straight from him.
It was second hand information,
second hand many times over –
up until now.
And it made more sense,
and it made me confused
at the message
that was lost along the way.

So with this
I left quietly
to return to all the things
I needed to do:
to deal with this,
to help with that.

And when I walked in the door
I saw the smile I’d been hoping for,
and was met with arms…

(some days are far too long)

and as I was being coddled,
I thought back to seat NO. 238
and my realisation
that there were no ruby slippers
and what that had ripped out of me.