panhandler at the gas pump
I don’t know where he came from
but suddenly he was there
presenting himself by asking
for one dollar
& one dollar only
having driven 600 plus miles
I was back home after
a twenty year hiatus
summoned by attorneys
to settle my mother’s estate
it was almost as if
I had met this man before
blue eyed & dark complected
maybe from high school
maybe somebody’s angel
to get to this point
I was ahead of schedule
a few blocks away from my meeting
having decided to stop
& top off the tank
at a cost far exceeding
one hundred dollars
june two thousand twenty-two
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved
jdubqca 
If you had the time to spare, I bet that one dollar had more stories to tell than the overpriced tank of gas…
without a doubt there are more