“Here!” cried the voice.
above the noisy crowd.
“Here is my gift to you!”
he proudly said.
The crowd parted
and the boy stepped forward
holding his hands high.
The king looked
into his hands…
The boy held a model car,
perfect,
shiny,
gleaming in the sunlight.
“The best you will ever find!”
the boy proudly said.
“It is nice,” said the king,
“but, sadly, not good enough.”
“Try again.”
The boy dipped his head;
the crowd stood silent;
and he walked away,
muttering to himself
“What more does he want?”
“What more can I do?”
“here” came the near silent whisper,
its soft humility piercing
the noisy throng’s hubris.
“here, it is all I now have”
the voice came again,
silencing the parting crowd.
The old man stepped forward
lifting his hand
to the king.
“for you,” he whispered
as he dropped his head.
The once shiny car
lay broken in his hands
glue smudges on the windows,
doors on backwards,
paint peeling off,
and a tire missing.
“I’m sorry…”
“I can’t do any better.”
The king took the car
turned it over in his hands
and declared…
“It’s perfect!”
“Just what I wanted!”
He set the car down
and took the old man
into his arms.
Tears rolled down
both their faces,
intermingling.
“Welcome home,”
the king said
as they stood
and walked into his mansion.
With one hand
he held the child’s hand,
And in the other
a shiny new car,
better than perfect.
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Jack
May 20, 2019 at 4:22 pmThanks for sharing.
Leroy Robert Case
March 25, 2019 at 2:10 pmBeautiful.