The Kroger on Holcomb Bridge (Twenty Miles North of Murder Kroger)

Lyrics

Saturday morning.
Call it nine a.m.
Pulling the cart from the corral.
Here we go again.
Holcomb Bridge Road, Roswell.
Sun's already hot on the asphalt.

The automatic doors slide open with a whoosh.
And you get hit with that sixty-eight-degree air.
The hum of the big lights.
Smell of the bakery, yeast rolls and birthday cake frosting.
A kid in a soccer uniform, grass stains on his knees.
His mom's on the phone, checking a list.
Just another Saturday.
Just another grocery run.

This is the Kroger on Holcomb Bridge.
Not the one you've heard the stories about.
This is twenty miles north, a clean straight shot.
Twenty miles north of the ghost on Ponce de Leon.
No headlines here.
Just BOGO deals and a long checkout line.
Twenty miles of distance.
Changes the whole design.

Over in produce, the misters kick on.
Every four minutes, like clockwork.
A little hiss over the cilantro and the kale.
Someone's picking through avocados.
Someone else says hey to a neighbor they haven't seen since church.
Yeah, the kids are good. Lacrosse season's starting up.
Small talk by the cut watermelon.
The slow, quiet pulse of a Saturday.

This is the Kroger on Holcomb Bridge.
Not the one you've heard the stories about.
This is twenty miles north, a clean straight shot.
Twenty miles north of the ghost on Ponce de Leon.
No headlines here.
Just BOGO deals and a long checkout line.
Twenty miles of distance.
Changes the whole design.

Down on Ponce, back in 1991, a story got a name.
And a name, once it sticks, is a hard thing to un-claim.
A shadow in a parking lot. A headline in the paper.
But up here, that's just a whisper.
A piece of Atlanta lore you tell a newcomer.
A tether, sure, but a long one.
Stretched thin by the years and the miles.

Headed for the self-checkout, the new ones they put in, what, 2018?
Scan the milk. Scan the bread.
The machine says "Please place your item in the bagging area."
And you do.
You just do.
You walk out into the sun.
Twenty miles north.
The story's over. The shopping's done.