Listen

My parents named me Listen. Literally.


I think it was some poke at divinity. I mean, what else would inform such a moniker? 


Growing up I was not the smallest dude in the hood but I was not the biggest either. What I lacked in height, I more than  made up for in heart.


I am the kind of fellow who once I feel something needs to be done, I'd have acted before processing why I did.


Some call me impulsive, some prefer impetuous. That is theirs. I am imperfect, yes. But it has no business stopping me.


That's how my crew and I, after a long night of fruitless fishing, were cleaning up and contemplating the day ahead (and for me, what to tell the missus) when along comes this fellow. 


He asked for my canoe, I gave him. I was not using it anyway. Then he asked me to push out. I paused and appraised him. He did not exude affluence. Yet, he was clearly not rabble. I obliged. The income would be better than going home empty-handed.


That choice changed the trajectory of my life. And that is the summary! Suffice it to say I went home laden. For many, many days I did not need to cast nets... 


But I digress.


I was talking about me and how I operate. 


I was with my colleagues last night. In the wee hours of the morning we saw an apparition. Cries and supplication rent the fabric of the turbulent, tempestuous air over the lake. The apparition spoke, it was our director. 


Once he identified himself, I saw a lifetime opportunity. The only reference I needed was our first encounter --- where with one payment, he forced me to upgrade my line of business. I asked to do as he was.


He spoke a word: come. 


I got out of the boat, onto the surface of the water. It held. I started walking.

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