The Introduction of Plus to Minus

Our lives began around the same starting point. Adolescence is little more than cattle run. You get taken from one place to another. The reasons hardly matter. It's just expected that transit is good for your development like vitamins. Sometimes it's a relative's house. Other times it can be a hospital. No matter how much I crossed my fingers, transport never found a theme park. There is a lot of post card stuff that is lost on me. Yet I would learn second hand from the school house. Tropical get aways, hayrides, and religious pilgrimages were enthralling subjects that made me adept at eaves dropping. Our family stood relatively still. It was the same couple of streets. Six or seven stores I knew by heart. Then things were shaken up. Enter one fancy implant. I figured you for a navy brat. Perhaps you even have vague memories of me. We split ways before any meaningful interaction. You could see from the window of your AP classes, or at least I could see you. They kept us apart for reasons that had nothing to do with grades. They figured if we hurt ourselves, it would only be a matter of time until that troubling behavior would turn outward. Transpose a letter one too many times, and you get a special lesson plan. It's not hard to surmise that something is afoot when the instructors are not allowed to yell at you. Try to read a face that is fixed into a contractual smile. It messes with your head. We discovered girls at the same time. You got the jump on me for only one reason. Fathers don't let their girls date boys without shoe laces. She was on your arm, but she always stole a glance at me. Chalk it up to pity, but we both know I was her preferred choice. Bygones, she was better off with you. I don't even remember her name. When Columbia gave you a full ride, you forgot her too. Now the word is that you are an budding activist. What is the glowing ember of your indignation? Was the silk road not long enough for you? As soon as your connections kick in, you went from revolutionary to comptroller. You always had a way of accessorizing your deficits. The old rugby injury that you suffered for no less than two weeks in college was the impetus behind sporting a bedazzled cane. The local political scene was a buzz. I don't really know my way around mystic. How does one make kidney disease sexy? Just so you know, Meredith declined to attend your soiree. It turns out that you can't throw people away, then refurbish them when convenient. I walk a lot of the same routes that she does at a respectful distance. When you left, she never fully recovered. Everyone does not have the luxury of moving on without a beat. Some people have to sit in the same pot that boils trauma with euphoria. We can't just extract ourselves when things get complicated. Now you are in the pot with me. Had I known you were a father, I probably wouldn't have taken it this far. I want to remain with you in your final moments, but we both know I am not strong enough for jail. You did the best you could. Everything evens out in the end.