Al’s Story

by John Rocco

The Hammer’s sister
told me this story
in the bar in the Bronx
about how she once
drove from Paris
to Amsterdam
in a converted yellow school bus
packed with people
the back converted into
a party room
complete with endless
spinning turntables.
They drove
carved out
lines of coke
kilometers
passed them
around and a
mirror’s face
was passed to Al
but the lines were
not white, they were brown.
“That’s not coke,” she said
“Yesss,” they said. “It is
better. It is herooooooooiiiiiiin.”
She said no thanks.
They ended up
stuck in the mud
outside the city.
In the morning the city’s
children surrounded
them and they expected
the worst
but the kids brought them
food, little cakes and cheese
that they didn’t eat.