John and The Teenage Couple by Tony Gloeggler

                          Edna Winti CC



John and The Teenage Couple

While everyone at the group home 
races through dinner in fifteen 
minutes or less unable to forget 
their years spent in Willowbrook, 
the other patients who snatched 
the food off their plates, John 
takes hold of the serving dish 
and fills his plate carefully, neatly 
separating meat from vegetables, 
mashed potatoes pushed far away 
as possible. He whispers to ten 
with each bite, lets the food 
tumble past his Adam’s Apple, 
stabs another forkful, pauses 
on the way to his mouth, surveys 
the room for signs of danger before 
bringing the food past his lips.  

At neighborhood stores, he stands 
in front of the floor-to-ceiling,
refrigerated glass case or stocked 
shelves, rubbing his hands, mulling 
over this life and death decision 
until he reaches down, grabs a pack 
of Yankee Doodles.  He walks 
to the counter glowing. Hello, 
my name’s John, what’s your name.
The guy behind the cash register, 
head burrowed into his cell phone 
grunts, dollar fifty. John digs 
his wallet out of his pocket, 
holds it close to his chest, picks 
a wrinkly bill from its sleeve. One 
by one, he places pennies and dimes 
on the counter, counting the amount 
out loud as a teenage, hand-in-hand
couple saunters through the door. 

The girl in tight ripped jeans, nipples 
pressing against her cut off tee, lingers 
up front, running her fingernails 
across breath mints and gum, trying 
to make eye contact with the guy
behind the counter as her boyfriend 
roams the aisles stuffing his pockets, 
sliding a pack of cold cuts under 
his shirt, inside his waistband.
I watch John slow down even more 
while the folks waiting in line turn 
to me. But I know John wants to do this 
on his own. He doesn’t like anyone 
touching his money and he’s hoping 
the cashier will discover he’s mentally 
challenged, find a bit of pity and decide 
he deserves free Friday night cup cakes.

​

​
Tony Gloeggler is a life-long resident of New York City and has managed group homes for the mentally challenged in Brooklyn 
for 40 years. His work has appeared in Rattle, BODY, Juked, New Ohio Review and Trailer Park Quarterly. My full length books 
include One Wish Left (Pavement Saw Press 2002) and Until The Last Light Leaves (NYQ Books 2015). My new collection, What
 Kind Of Man, was published by NYQ Books 6/ 2020.