I knew a man who knew too much
I heard his sobs and followed them
Till I found him at the bottom of a stairwell
Sitting pathetically alone
His face turned to a corner
"Why do you sob so," I asked the man
Without turning to look at me he said
"For a gumball, I will tell you"
I reached into my pocket and hesitated
I love gumballs
The man knew this
This was my last gumball
He knew this too
"Come come you wish to know, yes?"
"Then, you must pay the price"
I gave the man my gumball
Though he continued to sit
With his face to the wall
He placed my gumball into his mouth
And I heard it crack
"I am a wealthy man," he said
"For I can forget nothing"
"Every spoken phrase"
"Every written word"
"Every thought, I remember"
"Thus, I have created for myself a perfect world"
"Then why sir do you sob"
"If you truly have everything you desire."
"You should be the happiest man alive"
The man took my gum from his mouth
He played with it
Rolling it between his fingers
Then stuck it to the wall
"Love can not exist in a perfect world"
"I sob because I know this"
"And yet I still chose perfection"
"A perfect world without love?!" I exclaimed
"Sir! How can this be?"
"Your words defy their own meaning"
I heard the man sob more
or was he laughing
"To struggle, fail and then to succeed"
"This is to know love"
"But for you to understand this"
"Would cost you another gumball"
"And I know, you had but one"
About the Creator
W.H. Michael
Father of three awesome kids, writer of speculative and contemporary fiction.
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