Witnesses told police
they saw her enter the store,
that she held a dozen
red roses across her arms.
Like she was carrying a baby.
A blonde working at the florist
after school and on weekends,
watched her count out $32.98,
in change and torn, crumpled ones,
pulled from her jeans pockets.
While having his hand treated
for burns a balding man told
reporters he’d tried to push her
to the floor and roll her.
She just walked out the door.
Cell phone photos posted
on web sites show her,
in flames, sodium bicarbonate
from a fire extinguisher aimed at her —
or from the back, still burning —
still walking.
It was a muggy August day.
Three women met for lunch.
In the coffee shop CNN played
on the wall-mounted screen.
Top story — California wildfires.
They ate deli sandwiches,
drank coffee, laughed and talked —
about Canada geese, teaching
in college, what people need
from therapy.
In the Mall of the Americas,
in the store where her daughter worked,
in The Savage Boutique,
Cecelia Casals, 42, drenched
in gasoline, went up in flames.