The Cowboy

He shouted, “Stop!” Too late. The cab went by in a blur as he choked back the anger at the audacity of the cabbie. Spontaneously, he yelled, “Jerk!”

Quickly he pushed away the thought of his blurtation. “I was just mad at him,” he said unconvincingly as he sat down on the curb. The nagging feeling settled in that something deeper was at play with his emotional well being. He wept bitter tears. How quickly he could turn on his fellowman without just provocation. He muttered in self-realization, “I am broken and the veneer I have used to mask my cracked life is coming apart.”

A child came to him, climbed upon his drooping shoulders and said, “Giddy up horsey.” A piece of plaster fell way revealing the vulnerable little boy that he had carefully hidden for so long. He looked up into his eyes and said, “You got it cowboy.” In that moment he understood how to live.