Day 108

Today's words:
Orange
Junk
Lane
Vet
Tower
Alphabet

A big orange pickup truck,
Its bed full of miscellaneous junk,
Was stalled in the exit lane.
I was taking the dog to the vet
And couldn't get off the highway. The water tower
Nearby was covered in graffiti, in an alphabet

Not our own. I didn't recognize the alphabet -
Maybe Thai? It was in orange
Paint and encircled the tower.
Just then I noticed something odd about the junk
In that pickup - it was moving. I dialed the vet
On my cellphone to say we'd be late and I sat in the lane

Behind the truck. Horns started blowing farther back in the lane
As I continued to contemplate that foreign alphabet.
The vet
Said no problem and I returned my attention to the orange
Pickup. Some junk
Fell off and people emerged, headed for the tower.

They jumped down and ran for the tower,
Crossing the traffic lane
To get there.  So the junk
Was just camouflage and the alphabet
Was instructions; the orange
Pickup started back up and I headed for the vet.

When I got to the vet
I told the receptionist the story about the graffiti on the tower,
The orange pickup,
The blocked lane,
The strange alphabet, 
And the junk

That wasn't junk.
The vet
Said she'd heard things like that before. It was the Thai alphabet
And the tower
Was a landmark so they knew where in the lane
To stop and orange

Was the color to look for. From hiding under junk to scaling a tower,
The vet said, the illegal immigrants dropped off in that lane
Knew to look for the color orange and the writing in their alphabet.