The Medicine Bottle

Underneath the dock in a puddle of sand lay an old glass medicine bottle. 

It was picked up and brought to 

by a man for a woman 

standing on the edge of the shore.

.

I want you to have this.

The man said. He told her there was a message to be found.

.

The woman took the bottle, went back to her hotel, and thought How Silly, 

he must have been blind. 

.

Inside the glass there was only air, but on the side a label was engraved. 

The woman never saw this and wrote a message of her own. “Try again” on the back of a receipt.

.

The next day she deposited the bottle 

under the dock, in the reeds,

by the shore. 

.

Orange juice…$2.69

Greek yogurt…$3.62

Pierogies…$6.48

Diet Coke…$4.39

He did not understand her message.