Between the Lines

Brecker's Grocery gets their first
shopping cart and learns it doesn't roll
across the gravel parking lot
with carefree 'catalog' smiles.

Brecker paves the lot,
recruits Shorty George and Lucky Dan
to get special paint and put stripes
and arrows on the new asphalt.

Shorty and Lucky work out a traffic pattern,
paint a zebra's profusion of stripes,
straight for parking, curved for the traffic.
Lucky is painting the last 'enter' arrow
when the special paint runs out.

Shorty and Lucky still need to paint
the 'exit' arrows so they jump
into Shorty's truck and head for Princess Paints,
and Willie's Tavern.

Brecker's customers comply with the 'enter'
arrows, follow the curved lines,
park between the straight,
but they don't find 'exit' arrows,
and the parking lot is jammed
with a bewilderment of shoppers.

Slow Howard pulls down his hat
and sleeps, Small Annie finishes off
the ice cream before it melts, Jersey Belle
would never enter a place like Willie's,
she sends Uncle Jimmy down to get
Shorty George and Lucky Dan back in line.