I’ve seen a thousand clowns

 

I’ve seen a thousand clowns

pile out of a Volkswagen
but still I’m not prepared
when Amazon delivers a small brown box
and out pops a full-size woman
not the eye-candy type but the good-gardener type
wearing a tool belt packed with
puppies and flower pots.
I didn’t order this, I say.
Let’s get to work, she says.
On what? I say.
Exactly, she says. You are so clueless.
Give me some pliers, I say. I’m good with tools.
That’s a start, she says. Let’s build a house.
How many rooms? I say.
Kiss me quick, she says.
So I do. Not so quick.
Three point five bedrooms, she says. For wee ones.
While I hammer and saw, she watches.
And what will you be building? I ask.
Our relationship, she says.
I immediately invest every penny,
which isn’t too many, in Amazon stock.

Twenty years pass.
It’s worth a billion dollars, I say.
Give it away, she says.
But the children, I say.
Give it away, they say.
And I do.
Amazon sends an email asking
Were you satisfied with how the product was packaged?
Any damage? How did it go?
There are two checkboxes, Yes or No.

…..

First published in Freshwater