“That looks like cancer”,
the bereaved mother
who had lost her son
to neuroblastoma
said to the handyman
carrying his bottle
of some weird
bright blue
power drink.

I thought it looked
more like solvent
or perhaps one of
those nasty chemicals
they pump you full of
during chemo.

“At least I’m safe here”,
she said
as she adjusted her hijab
looking down the street
at the homeless man
selling cigarettes
to the drunks
and addicts
when three young black men
ran by
chasing a stranger
down an alley
as something went wrong.

The sun hung high in the sky
shining on the just and unjust,
the Muslim, the Christian and the agnostic.

It would be three more hours
before she could break
her Ramadan fast.