Smallest Finger Pact

Under the harsh buzz

of fluorescent lights,

like a wound that finally

decided to close,

they locked.

Small, grubby pinkies,

the boy's fingernail

still black with dirt,

her hand soft and small

around his knuckle.

A gummy bear truce.

The promise

tighter than any word

they’d yelled

just seconds before.

It held, for a moment,

in that stale air,

a temporary seal

against the next fight.