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I don’t remember who I was talking to
or what I was talking about,
but it was my voice I heard
and I remember saying it.
That’s what woke me up.
“No thank you.”
Had I said it on the telephone
to a telephone sales person
persistently selling telephones
or a cellular telephone service plan,
that kind of “No thank you!!”?
A dismissive, condescending, agitated,
“No thank you”
voiced toward the slamming hand set?
Was it said to a person or persons in mass,
handing out flyers or petitions,
almost blocking pedestrian passage,
thrusting their advertised wares
as I verbally elbow past
avoiding eye contact?
“No Thank You”
barely slowing down.
Or to the waitress
as she asked on the brink of pouring,
if I needed a warm-up
just after I’d added
the right amounts of cream and sugar.
“No thank you”
with a smiling shake of the head
and a blocking hand over the cup.
Maybe a singing retort
at the sticky faced toddler
in the waiting room,
crawling toward my seat,
offering drippy gummie bears
from his fuzzy little open hands.
“No thank you”,
quite loud, backing into my chair
trying to get the parents’ attention
to keep their brat at bay.
Perhaps a polite refusal,
though to an offer
of something actually desired,
like another slice of pie
or help with my luggage.
The unconvincing sort,
that if asked again,
may not be that vague, unmeant
“No thank you”
that was automatically voiced.
Whereas, if offered again,
“Are you sure?”
would surely be accepted.
My pondering now abruptly curtailed
by yet another question
from just across my bed.
“Still wanna get up early?”
“No thank you”.
Now I’m asking myself….. “Who was that?”
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