They Lie

Wide whitened magazine smiles taunt my right side while the left offers up tooth-decay and gummi bears. I try to escape the piped-in Rod Stewart, visualizing my online banking account and wondering if the medicine should wait until tomorrow. The line crawls while two toddlers crawl between their mama's long skirt.

A teenage Chicanita still stuck in her beige school uniform sighs, pouts and adjusts her backpack which carries a collection of pins: one about attitude, another about being cute. The third is a big hot pink pin that proclaims "Military Recruiters LIE!" Suddenly I am wearing a proud smile wider than any one of those interchangeable pop-starlets that line Walgreens check-out aisles.

I never know how much I need hope until I actually find it.