Steal this Bible from Days Inn!
reads the sticker
on the King James Bible
from the bedside stand
in the motel where he's stopped
in the middle of Nebraska
on the cold side of I-80.

Neon glows through the rain-streaked window,
falls on the words of the open Bible:
"For the wages of sin is death…"
it says.

"Ain't that the truth."
The book slides from his cracked fingers
and drops to the carpet
beside his scuffed boots.

He swings his feet up,
large toe poking through his left sock,
and falls back onto the pillow,
which feels like no pillow at all,
just a bump in the bedspread
where a real pillow ought to be.

He wonders how soon that check will arrive–
the one covering the wages of sin–
and where, exactly, he'll cash it…

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.