Glenn G. Coats
A Tale of Two Romeos
We don’t know if she drives or walks to work. We have no idea whether she attends the community college or if she has a steady boyfriend.
From the name tag, we know her first name is Nadine, and her last name is Licastro because someone behind the counter calls her that. She wears a white blouse, red vest, western tie, and works on Thursdays.
The two of us leave the college and drive eighteen miles to Asheville. Brad pulls his car under the red-and-white-striped roof. Inside, our seats have red cushions and Chinese lanterns hang from the ceiling.
“How y’all boys doing tonight?” Nadine asks. “Don’t tell me, two Ollie burgers and two root beers.”
It is dark on the ride home. Hills grow steeper as we climb toward school. Brad turns down the radio. “Remember,” he says. “I saw her first.”
bend of road a fawn stretches toward the wet leaves
About the Author
Glenn G. Coats lives with his wife, Joani, in Carolina Shores, North Carolina. His books include two Snapshot Press collections of haibun, A Synonym for Gone (2021) and Degrees of Acquaintance (2019); Furrows of Snow (Turtle Light Press, 2019), an honorable mention winner in the Haiku Society of America’s 2020 Merit Book Awards; and Another Lost Boat (Pineola Publishing, 2022).