Saturday, September 12, 2020

Prose Poem: The Bank Teller.

 



I had to go to the bank to get a roll of quarters.

To do my laundry.

The teller was a very nice young woman.

She had a lovely smile.

She got me my roll of quarters,

then asked if I would be interested in 

a car loan.

"I don't drive anymore" I told her.

"Do you need a second mortgage,

or a reverse mortgage?" she asked politely.

"No thank you" I replied. "I'm trying to stay

out of debt."

She gave me another lovely smile,

then wrote something down on a

yellow legal pad.

"What are you writing?" I asked her.

"I'm making notes for my MBA class

on marketing" she told me.

"About me?"

"Well, yes" she said. "You show 

remarkable sales resistance."

"Oh, do I?" I said, suddenly very pleased 

with myself.

"Yes, you do" she replied. Then hesitated,

looking down and then back up at me.

"Would you mind answering a few

questions for me -- for my class?" she asked.

"Of course!" I said gallantly. "Anything to advance

your education!"

So she took me into a back room to

ask me all sorts of questions about my 

spending habits and attitude towards

debt. She took copious notes.

When we were done she thanked me

effusively.

I was so overcome by her attention --

I'm a widower of many years --

that I went ahead and took out

a car loan -- for my daughter;

she's driving an old wreck that's

going to fall apart any day now.

And I applied for a reverse mortgage, too.

I've always wanted to put in a backyard

hot tub.

She shook my hand warmly and tenderly.

Even though that's against the rules nowadays.

I couldn't help myself: I asked her to marry me.

She was very sympathetic, and let me down easy.

She had to get her MBA first, she said.

"Then we can talk about a relationship" she

finished, handing me a brochure on investing

in Bitcoin and gently pushing me out the door.

I got back in the nursing home van and sat down

with a knowing smile

that drove the old ladies sitting up front

crazy.

"You look like the cat that swallowed the canary"

said one of them.

"I almost did" I told her smugly. "Do any of you

gals need quarters?" 

No comments:

Post a Comment