Which Way?

He reviews his life as he prepares to meet old friends.

Which Way?

It was time to let everyone see him now, and he couldn't wait. He already knew which path to take once he got out. Too bad it took prison to see the light, but at the moment, if it wasn't for the time he'd spent alone, with little outside influence, he'd probably be right back in there. So, the bad became the good, at least in his life. Now, to see how everyone else faired.


Everybody said he couldn't do it. No way in hell he'd be able to do it. Those words were like an anthem to him, and with every anthem, there's a tendency to repeat them, and eventually believe them. That's how he got trapped in the shit. But again, if he didn't get trapped, would he be here today?


As a kid, he knew his luck spun like a dime, and once it stopped, that's the path he'd take, and that path landed him somewhere he didn't want to be. Lesson learned. The other side of that dime had a path also, one much harder but more fulfilling. Now, he's a success, and the naysayers inside the small venue will marvel at what he'd become.


And that's when he'd release a string of curse words to chisel all the surprise away.


Payback time.


He moved beneath the shade of the tree in front of the venue and peered through the glass at the people he didn't like very much. He watched them mingle for a while, then prepared to make his presence know. Just then, a single leaf spiraled from a nearby branch and landed at his foot, and he realized the same could happen to him. He erased his mind, chose to be humble, and let them marvel in his change.