Bullet

They say adulthood begins when we give instead of take. If it's true, I was never a child. It began with a stubborn baby tooth, one of those wigglers that hang by the root. Being young and naïve, I tied a rusted fishing line around the baby, complements of my father's fishing box, and pulled. It came out but soon the rest of my teeth did too. The rusted line infected my gums and I remember my other teeth lookin' rotten and rusted just like the line had been. The adult teeth wouldn't grow and I was told I'd live with dentures the rest of my life. So I have. That's as early as I can see. At a young age I was already givin' back parts of myself to mother earth.

Still a boy, a dear friend of mine passed away. His mom and pop sold his possessions real soon. They were sorely poor. I bought a fine beebee gun that he was always so proud of real cheap, and I lived with it night and day like a new friend. It felt right to call my new friend Jacob. (Jacob was the boy's name who went to heaven). The two of us went everywhere together until one day he shot me, and he was my friend no more. I always admired how fast the beebees went out, and it always bothered me that I couldn't see them until my target was hit. I thought if I could just peer around the barrel enough I might see the beebee. Boy, did I see it. I would go on seeing it until they popped out my eye due to infection. The beebee entered my pupil, the center of my eye, like it was shootin' a bull's eye. I gave Jacob to some boy who looked half my age. I was 13 or so at the time. I hope he was a better friend to him than me.

Things were hard, but as it turned out, I had a voice for singing. It surprised me, but then I heard something about how losing one sense helps another, so it occurred to me that I wouldn't have been a singer if not for losing my eye. I had given to nature but nature kindly gave back. I was touched and encouraged. I felt the tides change in my favor and I sang opera and all sorts of things I'd never heard of before. Thousands of folks clapped for me when I finished and I went home very happy. I guess I was popular because people waved to me in the streets.

Then one cruel thing happened after another. I purchased a flat in New York City. I also purchased a piano because one day at a party I heard it and then I thought what if I played piano with my singing? So I did. People paid more and more for me to play and sing. Someone said I deserved a better apartment with all the money people gave me, so I got one. I helped move my piano but it slipped and hit the side of my head - my blind side. I lost hearing in that ear and was never paid to play or sing again.

Now I'm here bleeding in an alley in a cardboard box I call home. I tried to scream for help couldn't; my dentures being long gone and broken and my mouth being nothing more than gums. A young man shot me in the stomach and took my last money. They say there comes a time when we grow old and must take again. I'm relieved I no longer need to give. I've been given a bullet and that's just right for me.