Pinking

i am driving home, back to work,
back to the kitchen, our new cafe, 
on this late october early evening
with the day and the days getting 
darker by degrees and i see a 
tall white van backed up the drive
of a small house.  its back doors
are open and on its side is painted
a large blue cross with the name
Provider Plus in white letters cut out 
of the cross and of course i wonder
if someone has come home to die.

a brace of mallards cuts across my 
route as i cross the river and they 
follow it.  i must stop at the grocery 
for fruit as the commercial supplier's
have been so atrocious lately.  the
parking lot is packed on this early
friday evening and i see the pinking
autumn sky reflected in the windows 
of all the cars and trucks.  it will
be dark by the time i get home.