thirst

   

he wakes up

in the middle of the night
and gets out of bed

to get a glass of milk

he stumbles into the kitchen
and opens the refrigerator
and as he is reaching

for the milk

he sees his picture

on the side of the carton
and the caption

that says he is missing
and has been missing
for years

he takes the milk
from the refrigerator
opens the spout

puts it to his mouth
and tilts it back
until the last drop
has drained down
his throat

he puts the empty carton
back in the refrigerator
and goes back to bed

he dreams that he

is at the supermarket
pushing through a
crowd of people
around the dairy case

he dreams that he has
made it to the front

of the crowd

and he is looking

at all the milk cartons
looking at all of the
pictures on their sides

he dreams that
he has found one
with a picture of
someone else

someone else
who is missing
just like

him.