Fudge By Numbers

I was told it would be easy
By the man in the third cubicle from the left near
the door marked EXIT.
“Just like 1-2-3,” he said
As though a small dog were chewing on his ankle.

But I found, not to my complete surprise, that,
in fact it was more like X-Y-Z.
“Bloody typical,” I shouted at the man who was washing
behind the potted plants
But then, isn’t everything?

(c) 2007, Neil Gardner