Jose Padua: The Beautiful Thing

In Virginia this fat
southern kid
sits by me on
the bus and starts
talking to a man
wearing a baseball cap
who’s sitting across
the aisle from him.
“My daddy once
had this beautiful
antique gun,”
he said.
“It was the most
beautiful thing
I’d ever seen.
But one day he
got mad and busted me
over the head with it,
breaking it into pieces.
I forgave him
for busting me
on the head
but not for
breaking that gun.
It was the most
beautiful thing
in the world.”
The man with
the baseball cap nodded.
He seemed to
understand.

—

Copyright 2015 Jose Padua