Robert Reece

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That goddamn Buick
screamed around the corner
hubcaps shooting off
like flying saucers from Plan 9
as the tires flexed and
screeched the
rusted hood ornament
focused down on its target
which was me
but I was a step late
to work that day
and by a foot or two
that goddamn Buick
missed me and crashed through
a newspaper stand and into
the side of a Subway sandwich shop
instead
the drunk staggered out
from behind the wheel
confused by the radiator steam
and gas fumes
and he puked on his lone casualty
a fat man in
rusted pants that ate a tuna
sandwich every morning
in that cursed Subway shop
hoping to lose
the weight of
his broken marriage and esteem
but he never met his dietary goal
he died right there
in front of the gathering crowd
right there under
the weight of
the restaurant bricks yellow
formica counter
tuna and a coke at 9 a.m.
a drunk's stupid guilt
my stunned fortunate glance
and the front axle of
that goddamn Buick.

Robert Reece currently works as a screenwriter and has written projects for Disney, Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, and Paramount as well as the screenplay for the independent film A Fare To Remember.  When he's not getting his teeth kicked in by studio executives, Robert continues to write short fiction and poetry as he has since he was a kid.