The Gas Price Game

By G. E. Shuman

When you have to play the gas price game,
And you go to the pump, it’s never the same.
Just scratch your head, and wonder why,
Yesterday’s price is now so high.

You check your gauge as you drive on past,
And wonder if your fuel will last.
Deciding then to turn around,
And fill-er up, while you’re still in town.

Tomorrow, when gas is down six cents,
You’ll wish you had waited, while straddling that fence,
Of just when to buy it, and how much, and where.
It must be a game; a test that’s not fair!

“That’s it!” You then mumble; “It’s all just a game,
To fuddle my thinking, confusing my brain,
Into never quite knowing the cause or the reason,
Gas prices change daily, not season to season.”

But, oh no, not now… now they’re having a ball,
Bouncing prices that once always fell in the fall.
And daily requiring, employees at Cumby’s,
To stop making change, and keep changing “numbies…”
(‘Numbers’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘Cumby’s‘. Sorry.)

Way up on that sign, to tell those at the wheel,
This could be the day, when you’ll get the best deal.
Or maybe it’s not the right moment to buy,
Come back in an hour, and give us a try.

It’s sure to be different, as the next hour gets nearer,
The price may just change in your rear view mirror.
You come back in that hour, or perhaps the next day.
And see that the new price has gone the wrong way.

And curse out the Arabs, that they’re fixing the price,
BP or Chevron can be blamed… just as nice.
But I’ve always wondered, in the midst of their pranks,
why they don’t just adjust it, when they fill up THEIR tanks.

That seems fair to me, as I head on my way,
With the gas that I purchased there, just yesterday.
Each gallon’s worth less, by six cents, since I got it.
And I feel I was cheated the day that I bought it.

I think a solution, and this may be weak,
Is to bring the gas back, the HIGH day of the week.
Tell them it’s worth more than the price that I paid,
Since it’s sat in my tank, as in theirs, ‘til today.