My Pal
By
James Robert Smith
I was relatively
happy
when I sold that first
short story
to that first
big market.
My best friend asked me
the anthology title
and said he’d buy
a copy
when it came out.
When it did come out
I asked him, smiling, proud,
“Did you buy one?”
And he said,
“Your story was what? Four pages of the book? Five?
I couldn’t justify buying
that book
for just four or five pages.”
My best friend.
True friends would buy it no matter what. True friends buy your book, send you goofy drawings and funny books at no cost. True friends send you a book about big dino-birds and don't charge them. True friends.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the guy's my pal, but some people are sometimes jerks without meaning to do harm. It happens.
ReplyDeleteHe's given me gifts, too. Sometimes stuff that I don't like, but I don't let on.
Certainly not cool art, though.