Fat Cats

I work at a gift shop in the Emporium by the lake because I have to

The new uniform is teal the same dark turquoise used by gift shops gas stations amusement parks

I worked at the amusement park across the lake until Larry my manager and I got high and he felt me up in one of those watergun horserace booths

I liked Larry you could see his nipples through his uniform and only his bangs were curly

I let him spray my tits with the gunwater that wasn’t the problem got to get your kicks somehow

Ray works at the Fat Cat booth where you throw balls at padded stuffed cats that look like what Aunt Joan gave me for my seventh birthday you could tell she just sewed two pieces of material together

Even with that lazy eye when Ray looks at me I know he sees what kind of girl I am

My coworker Joyce thinks the Fat Cat game is cruel people throwing balls at cats like that

Joyce is a beyotch

She has big blue amoebas of veins behind her kneecaps

They are teal dark turquoise aquamarine sea-green

When she bends over to pick up the ashtrays-miniature-sailboats-decorative-fishing-net-sand-dollars-imported-from-Florida I imagine the amoebas detaching and skittering across the floor at me

I bet Ray would protect me I bet he knows a thing or two I bet he has samurai knives and ninja stars

Nunchucks

I bet he knows how to use em real good

The problem wasn’t Larry and me using the watergun on account of private property the problem was Larry came in his pants

I froze like one of em Fat Cats with the red yarn in loops glued all around its outside like a serial killer glued hair back on a body

Poor Aunt Joan at least I like to peel the dried glue from my fingers

Larry tells me not to tell and I am like that time in fifth grade when that boy drew mean pictures of me and I lied to the principal my feelings weren’t hurt

I didn’t know the principal wouldn’t know that

The human resources rep didn’t either she had on a pencil skirt and a teal scarf

If I had her job I’d wear turquoise camisoles and aquamarine eyeliner and me and Ray would play the ring toss every night

All those blue-green bottles

All those open holes