-If I go, I’ll be back-

the “Stop & Shop” is half-a-mile from the house,

but it's not a pleasant drive.

the 24 hour “Extra Mart” is less than a quarter mile west
on route 6, but at three-times the price.

there’s a “Cumberland Farms” variety store

same distance from the house as the “Extra Mart”

but in the other direction, toward the “Village Convenience”
in Seekonk and that's a good two miles north on 103.

“Joan's Country Store” on Gardners Neck Road is closed,––

locked-up, shuttered, dark and abandoned, no more than

50 yards north of the house.
Joan tried real hard to make a go of it, with fierce,

hand exclaimed signs of "Free Coffee"
expanded to: "Free Coffee No Purchase Necessary!"
she introduced a daring "Cigarette Smoking Encouraged" policy,
set up a little folding card table with two metal chairs outside the front door,
café style, inspired by those dotting the Avenue des Champs-Élysées,
and she established a unique "Confederate Currency Exchange System,"
none of which encouraged potential customers to stop by.
Joan didn't figure that the people in residences of the road traveling north
were just getting up to speed as they roared passed the little
country store on their way to work and sped passed it moving south
on the way to the comforts of home after being busy somewhere else.

but today, all I need is bread, milk, maybe the standard

dozen eggs afterthought, and a definitive destination.

the car’s in the driveway gassed-up and ready to go, but it doesn't matter

to obsess over anyplace in particular. 

I'll change my mind on just about everything along the way.

approximately 12 seconds of elapsed time in Swansea, USA.