An Askew Life

On a clear day in the day room he will tell anyone he has had an askew life. When he was a small boy out for a Sunday walk with his parents his father would shout not to walk on the edge of the sidewalk and in grammar school the nuns would get upset because he didn’t always write between the lines and at jobs after college despite doing things well and getting promotions he had a habit of being late and in a long otherwise satisfactory marriage his wife would get upset because he didn't put stamps on envelopes straight. On a bad day in the day room he will tell anyone none of those people is still alive. Donal Mahoney