Vegetable Boss

by Paul Marion

Lauren brought beautiful fruits and veggies for a morning snack.
Her skin glowed like a nectarine. Her hair was short fuzz.
She decorated her hard hat with cut-up bumper sticker:
The first day she ate plum tomatoes. I knew she was her own way,
Not like Diet Coke- and coffee-fiends on our urban salvage team
Who made runs to the Paradise Diner, where you get a lube job
Just sitting at the counter. She showed up late twice in a row,
With a “What can I say?” line, so I said, “You can say,
‘My name is the Vegetable Boss, and I was late’”
One day her dad dropped in, wearing a tropical shirt and sandals,
A big man who stared and stared at what his daughter was onto
“Pleased to meet vou,” we said all around. He left, not convinced.
The girl with fat-free veins didn’t look back when her time rang.
But she seemed to like the way we scraped the walls.