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Order this writing in the book Over the River and Through the Woods the cc&d September-December 2023 magazine issues collection book		get the 424-page September-December 2023 cc&d magazine 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

The Good Samaritan

Oz Hardwick

Phone lines are open for enquiries and simple reassurance, and although I’ve never been comfortable in any situation, I can’t help calling to hear another human speak. It’s the same woman every time, offering professional opinions and coping strategies in a voice I recognise from public information films and rail announcements, stroked by low-tar cigarettes and soft as pillows. She tells me to remember sunscreen, to remember my way home, and to remember her phone number because I’m sure to need it again. She tells me that road surfaces are becoming softer and that airport runways will need to be longer in warming air. She tells me that, if the dice had fallen differently, I could have made a good father, a good husband, or at least a good juggler in a three-ring circus. It’s not her job but she asks me why I still use phone boxes, and although it breaks with official protocols, she asks me if I’d like a lift home. She says she’s read my poems and offers me a cigarette. She assures me that the end will be swift, that there’s nothing to be done, and that nothing is all my fault. Although it’s against the rules, she wraps me in her arms as she tells me to take care.

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