Fundraiser

Not sure if anyone else noticed 

the green and orange tattoo  

of a demon’s fiery skeleton

clawing down the one man’s neck,

or the other’s silver-tinted sunglasses 

even though the gym had been darkened

for our annual parents-only sock hop.

I was on my second plate of nachos

when the one rolled a used Schwinn

I had leaned against the auction block

into the multicolored strobe-lit dance floor

while the other attacked the cash box

and would have made it down the stairwell

had it not been for Cornelia Henderson

blocking the exit with her holiday harvest

jumbo chocolate extravaganza fruit basket.

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Grant Vecera

Grant Vecera teaches writing, thinking, and literature at Butler University and at Indiana University Indianapolis, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and various animals. His work has been appearing in various illustrious literary periodicals for the past thirty years.