She told me the guy wasn’t playing with a full deck of cards 

I could imagine the man but it was hard 

I thought of him drinking Mountain Dew 

Smoking cigarettes 

Uh, I thought , if he only knew 

We drank our coffees, careful to not spill them on our white coats

No sugar

Maybe just a little bit of judgement 

For we were under oath 

Knowledge is power 

Then in the after hours 

It was time to drive home 

I wondered during that long shift if our true colors had shown

Out in the parking lot, her car wouldn’t start 

And that patient we’d been talking about happened to walk by and he said, “That must be hard”

He sipped on his soda 

He paused and said to her, “Hey, I think I know ya”

He took from his pocket a pill and swallowed it down

As she stood still and frowned 

“Car trouble?,” he asked

She waited for her embarrassment to pass 

He told her to pop the hood

And she did 

He removed his soda cap 

He appeared to rummage about with his fingers 

As her curiosity lingered 

He told her to try again

She did as her fatigue set in

And the car started 

There was oil beneath his fingernails

Before he walked home he told her, “I don’t know if you believe in fairy tails, but these shouldn’t be discarded”

He handed her a full deck of playing cards 

She offered him a ride but he said he preferred to walk 

He wanted to finish his soda in his front yard

As she sat some more 

Looking at the lonely road and the deck of cards 

Thinking, I know what these are for