STALWART PARENTS

In a radiology waiting room,

sit lumpy-faced parents

encrusted with concern.

Mom sports a pink baseball cap

and a Massapequa Wrestling jacket.

Pop fails to hide a prominent paunch

in grease-stained coveralls.

Mom offers daughter a red lollypop,

massages her shoulders and back.

Chewing on a plug of Buffalo Jerky,

Pop scans the racing results.

Their adult-child, Helga,

looks downcast and bewildered:

puffed-up eyelids, oblique eyes,

and a protruding tongue.

When Helga returns to her parents

after undergoing a total body scan,

Pop suddenly reaches out with a High-Five:

a moment of braggadocio for Helga

who responds,

smiling for the first time.