filing single

the tax lady, betty,
calls and says are you sitting down.

you have to pay this year.

I take a seat.
you made more money last year,
she says.

pausing.
I can almost hear her stroking
the cat
on her desk.

yes? I say. go on.

well, for state, it's this much.
hardly anything.

but for federal, well, it's a lot.

I tell her okay.
it's just money. money that i'll
probably never

even spend.
we'll good she says, let me know
when you want to stop

by and pick them up.

oh and by the way, she says,
of course you're filing single again,
right?

yes. forever and ever and ever,
I tell her,
both of us laughing loudly.

call me before you make that
stupid mistake again,

she says. I will, I tell her.
I will, and then hang up.