Donal Mahoney, a native of Chicago, lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He has worked as an editor for The Chicago Sun-Times, Loyola University Press and Washington University in St. Louis. His fiction and poetry have appeared in various publications, including The Wisconsin Review, The Kansas Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, The Christian Science Monitor, Commonweal, Guwahatian Magazine (India), The Galway Review (Ireland), Public Republic (Bulgaria), The Osprey Review (Wales), The Istanbul Literary Review (Turkey) and other magazines. Some of his work can be found at http://eyeonlifemag.com/the-poetry-locksmith/donal-mahoney-poet.html#sthash.OSYzpgmQ.dpbs (Photo: Carol Bales) Empathy Is Not Pete’s Forte Pete’s never needed anything from childhood on. His parents had it all and gave it to him so it’s hard for him to understand why people who have nothing march with placards in the streets or sneak into another country to find enough to eat, a place to live, and raise and educate a family. Empathy is not Pete's forte and that can happen when parents give you everything, send you to the finest schools, leave you money you can build a business with, go broke and still become a billionaire. Finally you have everything and life becomes so boring you decide the time has come to run for president. Such fun. A Self-Made Man Today I flew out to see a high school friend. from many years ago. He was poor back then and I was better off. A matter of parents and what they did. His mother was a maid and his father a drunk. He flunked out of school and joined the Army then built a business and became a millionaire. He picked me up in a black Mercedes and as we drove off we saw a young couple on the side of the road holding a sign, "Will Work for Food.” A not uncommon sign these days. My friend told me they’re throwaway people and America must find a way to throw them away. It was a short reunion. My wife was sick, I said. I flew home the next day. My old friend, poor in youth, is a self-made man today. It Can Happen in a Second Solid middle class he is always has been always will be until tomorrow on the highway in the rain this bus topples over on his Dodge Durango. He will never walk or work again. In six months or a year his savings will be gone. He will be for life a ward of the state and people will forever feed and bathe him for the minimum wage a sum he always said folks like these were worth. Jimmy from across the Street I take my wife to dinner at a fancy place for us to talk about money because stocks have a virus and we should move money into silver and gold in case we don’t die before that rainy day comes but first she asks did I hear about Jimmy from across the street and I say he’s out of work two months or more and she says his wife’s lost her job too and they have kids in private school shouldn’t we do something and I ask what can we do because Jimmy would never take any help and she says we could put cash in an envelope in his mailbox at night and he wouldn’t know who to blame just as something gross on the half shell arrives at our table with sauces and I drop the whole idea of talking about money we’re lucky enough to have. Stocks go up and go down and jobs are lost and found. We talk about Jimmy from across the street the rest of the night. A Life Without Guard Rails You think you got problems? You probably do but would you trade with Phillip, a Vietnam vet who still thinks Agent Orange lurks in every puddle he steps around after a heavy rain, who shovels snow, cuts lawns and rakes leaves to make his disability check go further? He has a snow shovel but someone stole his mower and the grass is growing and customers are waiting. He saved three months to buy a used car to replace the van that died and that car died yesterday in the street but the payments are still due. Some people think Phillip causes his own problems but no one has the answer as to how he can change a life that hasn't changed much since Vietnam. It took ten years to qualify for disability. He’s been doing odd jobs and he’ll keep doing them until he can no longer walk. He says a Veterans Home has promised to take him in.
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2/21/2023 08:55:48 am
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