The man wears a T-shirt that says
“Spending Christmas with My Kids & My Cats”
There’s a cartoon drawing of two playful kiddies and two playful cats
With curved lines to indicate them spinning around
Even though they’re standing still
I notice there’s no playful mother person in the picture
Perhaps the wife’s not playful
Maybe she’s too tired to spin
Maybe she wants this to be the one day of the year
When the husband takes on the responsibility
Of caring for the kids and cats
Maybe she bought him the shirt for Christmas
Made it be the single present
He had to open on Christmas Eve
Awaking Christmas morning to find himself alone
With the playful kids and the playful cats
Ripping open a present here, a present there
The cats wrestling with the ribbons and wrapping paper
The wife up in the darkness and gone
Out for a day to be free from them
The man with the playful shirt
Drinks coffee alone
At the table next to mine in the Frankfurt Airport
No cats, no kids, no wife
He and I are on our phones
Maybe he’s texting the wife or one of the kids
Or all of them in a family group message
Possibly even including little bits and pieces
They can relay to the cats in cat-speak
He’s traveling somewhere by himself
To them, away from them, but just now
Alone with his phone and his playful T-shirt
Today, on September 5th
Lanning Lee 