vegas ii

As we walked home that night,
two sparkles moving along a strip
of cheap costume jewelry,
we followed her.
Tiny bones protruded from an awkward
thirteen-year-old frame
draped in slutty fabric
desperate to make up the difference.
She giggled as the man beside her
patted her bottom
and kept her from falling
over her tangled, dizzy feet.
He looked old enough to be
her grandfather…
a sick old man
craving something young and tender
to break.
We wondered how many drinks he’d bought her
and how many she thought she would need…
not enough in either case, we thought,
when she wandered out into the busy street.