Low

This Alabama gas station coffee is good,
I drove 350 miles yesterday to get here
and now I’m driving back.
It’s 80 degrees in January.

Before I left, I bought new tires.
At the gas station where I live,
I picked up some cigarettes and sunflower seeds.
I listened to side one of Low on repeat on the way.

I got there, and I didn’t know anyone.
I waited alone amongst all of those people for two family members that I knew were coming,
they weren’t sure I was going to.

Afterward, I went to a gas station across the street,
one of those neon sign, bars over the windows sort of gas stations,
To get some beer. All of the beer was crap. I left with some six-pack of wheat ale that tastes good but makes you crawl the next day.

I got back to my room and turned on the TV,
I watched the football game.
I drank a couple of beers,
and ate some chips.

After the game, I ran a bath,
I took the beers with me,
I turned the water too hot,
I sat and let the water cool off, the steam fogged the mirror.
I got in the tub and finished the rest of the beers.

This morning I felt like shit.
I made coffee in the little coffee machine they provide in the room,
They never give you the same coffee maker.
I always fuck up the first pouch of instant coffee,
and I can never drink just one cup of coffee,
so I always end up drinking the decaf coffee.

I went downstairs and had the continental breakfast.
I still don’t know why they call it continental.
I scarfed some eggs and sausage to settle my stomach.
I went upstairs and packed my things and headed back downstairs.
I checked out and grabbed a cup of coffee from the cafeteria for the road.

On my way out of town, I stopped by his house,
they let me grab a couple of things to remember him by,
more books than I could ever read, some model boats, a few pipes,
I sat at the dock and looked out over the water
fantasizing about a new career in a new town.

I stopped here to fill up on gas,
I don’t usually do this
but I grabbed a cup of coffee.
This Alabama gas station coffee is good.