when I was five

in Deafie’s cramped candy store

around the corner from where I lived

in the Bronx

shadowed by the rattling El.

We called him Deafie because

he was deaf.

I myself was called four-eyes.

It was a cruel time.

So for ten cents I bought a comic book

where Little Lulu and her boyfriend Tubby

experience a terrible big snowstorm,

such a serious weather event

they have to tunnel under the snow for blocks,

cross streets, turn corners

to get to the grocery store.

Many years later when

I met my husband

and we compared favorite comic books

I said I loved when Little Lulu got snowed

in and he said yes and remembered

she bought milk when she finally got to the store.

We fell in love.

Right then and there I wrote

to a comic book store in New York

I am trying to find this

Little Lulu comic, I said

don’t know the date, don’t recall the cover,

but here’s the story.

The proprietor looked through

his stash and mailed

it to us in exchange for $100

wrapped in cellophane

and it sits today on my knickknack shelf;

my husband and I sometimes take it down

to read because we still share

Little Lulu moments.