20. Bad Seed

The man’s name was Norman. The very bad thing was a crash that left him limping, and his son Devin with brain damage.  Norman told the group,“After the crash, Devin couldn’t play his trumpet. He smashed it against the wall. The school pulled him from the gifted program - he spit on a teacher. I found his lacrosse stick broken in half.

“One day Marcus from next door rang the bell. Devin had been his Special Olympics coach. He’d convinced the lacrosse team to let Marcus sit with the players at games. Devin pushed him off the deck, swore at him, and told him never to come back. Sometimes I see Marcus sitting on his porch, staring at Devin’s window, and crying.  It kills me.”

“Quit beating yourself up,” DUI Dave said. “You couldn’t have known any of this might happen.”

I said, “Bad seed sprouts in unlikely places.  We don’t have to know what kind of bad, or where they might sprout.  We just have to not sow them.”

Today I will remember bad seed sprouts in unlikely places.

Sober Not Somber © 2015 by Ken Montrose

(Just a reminder: Sober Not Somber is a work of fiction.  Any resemblance to anyone you might know is purely coincidental.)