old woman at the bus stop

i pulled off to the side

to catch my breath and

hydrate myself

during a bicycle ride

it was extremely hot

the clouds were rolling in

with a threat of

thunder storms

i pulled off my helmet

and raised my water bottle

to my mouth

i heard someone mumbling

at me

i looked over and

there was an old feeble woman

wearing a sun hat

colorful T

and spandex

she was just staring at me

i said, “what?”

she said, “your gonna get

electrified”

i said, “ok”

she said, “with the lightening

that’s coming and your metal bike.

your gonna get it. don’t you know

how electricity works?”

I said, “no”

I just sipped my water

she began singing

‘the star spangled banner”

which went straight into

‘dirty water’ by the Standells

and for the encore

‘the letter’ by the Boxtops

she didn’t have a bad voice

better than me by any stretch

her bus arrived and as she stepped

inside she looked back at

me, winked and said again

“your gonna get electrified”

then she was gone

the big metal bus sucked her

up into the city

maybe she was on to something

and part of me was hoping

that what she predicted would

come true

because then i might finally  

get some well deserved attention