the second song

the radio in the back played the same song twice before patrice came in and made it play a second song. nobody touched the buttons. the first song stopped in the middle of a word, and the second one started with a trumpet that sounded like a chair being dragged across tile. i counted twenty-six seconds before patrice looked up from the soup labels.

"that's new," patrice said.

it was not new by the time they said it. it had already happened, which is how new things get promoted at panera. i went behind the bread rack and found the radio plugged into the wall, the wall plugged into nothing, and the nothing humming through the cord. i unplugged it anyway. the song continued from the ceiling speaker, softer now, like it had been moved into a smaller room.

patrice asked if i wanted to report it. i said the report would become a third song. the radio went back to the first one before we closed, and now i have to wipe down the back counter.