parking lot incident

she frightened me!
a friendly woman
who knew what
i was thinking,
without knowing
what she knew.

in the parking lot,
she said her friend
loved fish too...
almost backed over her
flattened her
like flounder...

but how did she know
and not know what
what she knew;
that i was then
pondering
sardines in a can
i ought to have bought?

distraught, i thought,
"oh, the stuffed
orange clowfish on my dash..."
so, for something to say,
i said, "so, there's
someone else?"

she replied,
"yes, and i'm telling her!"

an inner depth grabbed
by an easily available handle:
out of the fire
and
into the frying pan.