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Hero MAG
Joe was a boy
With a dream to live
In a place where the sound of night
Was the wind and the crickets
Not the gunshots and the sirens
That were all too common
In the place where he lived
And the children were recognized
And the women were respected
And everyone had a daddy
Who came home at five o'clock
Joe's favorite times
In his whole meaningless world
Were the times he spent with Jeffrey
Jeffrey was kind
And he had taught Joe how to play pool
And how to change the oil in his truck
And how to show off for the girls
Who jumped rope on the sidewalk
And Jeffrey would laugh
He'd say "Joe, you're gettin' to be bigger'n Ol' Jeffrey"
And they'd laugh together
At the people they watched
Walking down the sidewalk
Always going somewhere
For where they were never suited them
Sometimes Joe acted strangely, though
He wouldn't be home for a week
Or sometimes two
And he would get phone calls
In the middle of the night
Or he'd have a mysterious bruise
And sometimes a cut
Appear at random places on his body
It was almost Joe's birthday
He'd be nine in a week
Jeffrey had said that something important would happen
On Joe's birthday
Joe wondered what the surprise would be
Something small like a toy
Or big like a bike
Or important like Joe's sister
Whom they hadn't heard from in years
And one day
The day before his birthday
Joe was sitting out in the corridor of his apartment building
And Jeffrey appeared
He held a paper bag in his hand
And when Joe asked if it was his present
Jeffrey smiled painfully
He managed to utter an inaudible "no"
And then he was gone
Joe fell asleep dreaming that night
Of happy tihings
Or at least the things that made him happy
And when he awoke the next morning
His mother had left
And the apartment was cold
So Joe went over to Jeffrey's apartment
But Jeffrey wasn't there
He wasn't on the stoop
Or their favorite bench
He wasn't at the drugstore on the corner
Or sleeping under their favorite tree
So Joe started to walk home
But he went the long way
Just for the sake of taking more time
Filling more space
With things he could do
And as he turned the corner
Lying down next to a garbage can
Was Jeffrey
In Jeffrey's left hand there were remnants of the paper bag
Shreds
Like it had been torn from his hand
But in Jeffrey's right hand
Was a pretty box
With a card attached
That said Joe
And Joe sat with him for hours
But when the flies started coming
Buzzing around Jeffrey's face
Joe got up and walked home quickly
With the shreds of the paper bag
Clenched in his small fist
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