Restocking Fee

The hallway is wider now that the box is gone.

I was tired of tripping over the cardboard flap

every morning when I stumbled out at dawn.

It was a square, brown, corrugated trap.

The clerk pulled the packing tape screaming off the roll,

a sound that set my teeth on edge like glass.

He didn't ask why I was giving back the whole

promise of a kitchen that never came to pass.

Just a blender in a box, never even plugged in.

I watched him slide it onto the metal rack.

It’s funny how much a person can win

by simply deciding to give something back.