five and dime

mama bought alice
at the five and dime
but couldn’t carry her
back home

she paused to catch
the ends of her hair
and ducked into
the back-alley shadows
to set up an ambush

looking for a way to lure
her oh-so-dull lover
into moving her
past third-base
but they were
both clueless

so she went back
to town and
bought the old book
with all the answers
and they studied it
together