panic

His cell phone rings.

The man says
to meet him
behind the Apex building
at midnight;
he has some news.

All week
Charlie notices
large glass jars
are being stashed
around the house:
behind the couch,
ontop of the refrigerator.

He has no idea what this means.

In a panic,
he turns the corner
and pulls in
behind the Apex.

Every dog in the city
is barking at him.

He tries to imagine
which kind of dog
each bark belongs to,
when the shadow of a man
approaches from the left.

\"I hate to be the one to tell you this, \"
the man says,
as he holds out a stack of polaroids.

The photographs were snapped
through the windows
of foreign houses.
In each picture,
she is depicted
eating pickles
and unmistakably enjoying them.

\"But Charlie,
it's even worse than I thought.\"