The egg roll is

I look like an egg roll

the vaguely Asian
looking teenager
opposite me
(maybe she is a Mixie)

in the library said
to her friends
while she looked
at a recent pic
perhaps a selfie
done
of course
without a stick
on some random Apple iPhone

or
even better
with the better provisioned
Samsung Galaxy Note

it doesn't really matter
but the things kids say
when looking at their hands

egg roll girl
and her friends
were intending to do
their homework or catch up
before catching their bus

from St. Pat's Secondary

the Alta Vista branch
of the public libary
was as good a place as any
to debrief on the day
and all
of the interesting things
that had just passed
before they were forgotten
in a tangle of shoes and clothes

and quick texts and taller tales

and after school snacks

and homework
and dance class

what made my ears
perk perturbedly
was a reference to
training supplied through a career ed class
the girls were learning St. John Ambulance

to deal with accidental
causality
(that's really what she said)
next was Foodsafe

and before both of those
was Customer Service

when explaining
why the word causality
and what it meant
egg roll girl said
I think it has to do
with preventing accidents
or something
random like that
her friends agreed
and said "oh, yeah"
and moved on

but not content
to let an error
lead the young astray
and make them stumble
in the dark
the way it says
Proverbs 4:19
the wicked know not at what they stumble
the way we all do
when we are treated like children
so I said
the word they wanted is casualty
from the Latin
ad cadere
which means to happen

I nearly quoted Daniel 4:4
Let the animals flee
from under the tree

but that would not have sat well
for the obscurity of the reference
so I held that back
and added that
casualty is normally
something short
of catastrophe
a Greek word
that is mirrored
in the Arabic
fagi
which has something to do
with love and disaster
or maybe both at the same time

they listened
and I got back stares
that were neither blank
nor speechless
yet barely articulate
nor struck with awe
without even the least tincture
of fear
instead
just that bit quizzical
not quite curious
but open to hearing
perhaps
just a little more
which meant they were still alive
or perhaps still slightly awake
thank God
I said
to myself
no flies on that one
maybe I can take
this moment to share
even to teach
and lead these poor souls
out of the darkness
that enveloped them
through no fault of their own
or mine either
but that's beside the point

and I was stuck for a moment
not knowing what to say
but I proceeded cautiously
at first
smiling
Mona Lisa like
just shy of enigmatic
not for effect
but to be kind
and let them regroup
for the final assault
during which I said
the egg roll is the casualty of hot fat

and is in that sense
converting
a flexible wrap
into a crispy roll
is a work
exhibiting causality
so in that sense
the egg roll is the casualty
of causality
so to speak
so to say
or something like that

I fancy myself
they understood
in that moment grasped
even though they laughed
as I made my way to the door
to leave them to their own devices
sharing stories and playing with their hair
and giggling over pics
they had not yet posted
to Facebook
or snapchat
or any number of others
like that.