AN UNCOMFORTABLE CONVERSATION

RECENTLY WHILE SHOPPING at the local grocery store, a complete stranger approached me, she was rather disheveled looking, she smelled bad, and I assumed the rest of her hygiene was lacking … She looked like she was middle-aged, and observing her filthy dress, I assumed she was a farm girl, She was carrying a stuffed, dirty pink pig toy animal … She crowded my space a little bit and got within three feet of me, when she blurted out, almost crying, “I need a hug, just one hug, no one has ever hugged me, other than my mother … I said excuse me, who are you, what is your name? … She immediately started crying and whispered a name I could barely hear, She said, “Syphilis, Syphilis is my name.”… Tears streaming down both cheeks … I said, what about a brother or sister, have either ever hugged you? … She whispered, “No, never.”… So, “Is it a brother or sister I inquired?”… She said, “A sister”… I asked, “Well, what is your sister’s name, she said, “Gonorrhea”... I said well, “there’s your problem then.”… adding, “You and your sister are named after two sexually transmitted diseases.”… I inquired “who gave you these horrible names?” She said, “My father”… I said, “What is his name?”… She whispered, ” Our father never would tell us his real first real name, so we just call him “Asshole”... At that, I turned, and as I walked away, I said “Good for you, now, you and your sister go have your names changed.” … Story, by Frank … littleraventhepoet.blog