Ft Lauderdale

Margarita bar between flights

It is 9:30 a.m. at home

The bartender just warned me:

She only makes doubles.

There is an older guy talking

He is two seats down

A Korean War veteran

Talkative and happy

Happy to be alive and

Talking about humanity

Although it is getting worse

Fast like these kids and

Obama and Muslims

And the iPhones have no

Consciousness of a real war

His empathy exists though

Somewhere beneath

The surface of reality

I squint my eyes and

Telepathically offer

My reciprocal judgment

For his boozing opines on race

Religion and Gen X

His rhetoric is blurry

Also presented in doubles

His contradiction amazes me

Maybe it's his margarita that's talking

I stare at a heart-shaped birthmark

Dripping from his left eye

My eyes begin to water but

Here comes another guy

An insecure distraction

Posed as a 30-something while dude

Talk about entitlement --

He barks at the bartender

His bruised ego demands attention

He is the type who has a career

A two story house with a pool

A reliable savings account and voting record

But has never had any friends

His youthful awkwardness churned into

Rotten arrogance

He thinks that money can buy friends now

But he still wears a fanny pack

And his white tennis shoes and ticket sleeve

Hanging from his neck

Give the real him away

His wife stands aback with their luggage

She's texting furiously

Probably reassuring their 2.4 kids

And her lover

Mom and Dad arrived well, remember "no parties"

Fanny Pack and Wife are grabbing a margarita

Before they shuttle to a Carnival cruise

Maybe it is worth the money

As you stare at the back of your husband's head

Wondering how it must feel

To be so stupid

And pathetic

And thinking about the magazine shows you've seen

Dateline and 20/20 --

Thinking about the tricky ways you could

Poison him without getting caught

Rule No. 1: Do not Google "how to kill your husband"

Rule No. 2: "top 10 undetectable poisons"

Rule No. 3: Do not consider a teenager or inexpensive hitman

And Fanny a Pack keeps talking at his wife

And Wife hasn't stopped texting

She raises her eyebrows and nods here and there

He accepts her minimal response as "listening"

Because he knows

He must know

Her dimples appear in the middle of his sentences

Unsynchronized emotional responses

They are obviously from whatever and whoever she is texting

But Fanny Pack doesn't mind

He acts cool and checks the NFL draft on his Android

And this bartender ..

Good for her

She sings to Carrie Underwood as she mixes a Bloody Mary

And I bet she gives good head

She is best described as "ugly"

An disproportionately overweight 50-something

She has a man's haircut and ear cartilage rings

She looks like the type who waived hormones when she hit menopause

But she is cool

And confident

She can talk the talk with all of the generations at her bar

And she makes a mean margarita

And it is always a double