Because the movie snacks are so overpriced we go to Walmart first, and because you can never make up your mind ever I say you get the candy, I’ll get the tickets and meet you at the movie and I’m by the register half-scanning my phone when cars backfire/firecrackers bang/ champagne corks pop and still I don’t know, I’m pushed forward in a wave of people, squeezed in a sea of breath and bodies and I can’t tell if I’m walking or being walked, can’t move my hand to check my phone, can’t text to see are you okay, can’t call Mom, can’t turn my head, can’t go back to find you, the crowd swells and puffs like when you open the cardboard tube and poppin’ fresh dough comes bulging out and you can never get that dough back in again, I have to believe the crowd will carry me to the door, have to believe the door is there somewhere, and all I can hear are screams and all I can do is hope, hope, hope they aren’t yours.
