“i don’t drink”

he said

and ordered a diet coke

“anymore?”

i asked

“ever”

he said

“my three brothers are dead from it

next to my father”

“i never understood

how one person

in a big family

can come out unscathed”

“some call it luck”

he said

“and it might be

but

my father didn’t know

any better

and my brothers

never let their resentment

towards go”

“and you did”

i asked

and ordered another beer

“eventually

but it took a long time

i was smart

and wanted to get my mother

out of the bad area

so i knew alcohol

would hinder that goal”

“did you succeed”

i asked

“yes”

he ordered a bar pie

“so you were the rose

that grew from the concrete”

i said

“not the rose

a rose”

he said

“wherever there is light

the flowers will find it”

and like

a weed

i ordered another beer