Beauty

The cashier
in my line is
talking to the old man in
front of me
calls him darlin'
"What about that orange juice there,
is that yours too darlin'?"

She is
loving
this
old
man

I recognize her
I saw her coming out of
the store a few days before
and was taken by how
strange
she looked
A mangy cat like face of a woman
young-ish
with the kind of moustache women
can get, but
unattended unconcealed

She had a slightly dazed look
about her
like she's been caught on
camera

And now I notice, sneaking glances from
my place behind the old man
that one of her front teeth is broken
and that all of her teeth are brown and crooked
and filled with decay

When it's my turn to check out
I look into her face

She looks back at me with an expression
that says
"What are you looking at?"

Not that hateful kind...
...innocently asking
aware and
not aware

For the first time, I can see her eyes.
They are
beautiful
The kind of eyes some
waitresses
have
Wide, with thick
droopy lids
Eyes that seem to be asking -
What is it hon'?
and I can see that
the rest of her face is actually
quite beautiful underneath the
cosmetic neglect
like a beautiful
painting
some school boy
has drawn a
moustache
on and blacked
out the teeth

If I was a god in some experimental universe
I would make some angels just like this
Just to see