nothing had changed as far as we could tell

the sign read

on

the store window,

sorry, we're closed.

there's been a death

in the family.

we peered in

to the darkened

store,

hands against the glass,

then wandered off,

with our coffee,

but returned the next day.

there were cakes

in the window, as usual,

pastries and donuts

were lined up on shelves,

the racks were full

of warm loaves

of bread.

dinner rolls.

nothing had changed

as far as we could

tell.