Ashes

It’s curious the way that bridges burned can smolder, sometimes for years, sometimes sending up sparks that drift on the wind for many miles. Curious but not surprising.

A friend speaks to this from first-hand experience. “I did the job I was hired to do,” he says, “and did it pretty well.”

True enough, I admit, but he’d been hired to steal customers in a line of work that expects cooperation among competitors. (wink, wink)

What matters, then, is not whether my friend was any good at what he did, but that he did it openly.

Dare I say with callous glee.

“Sure I kicked up some dust, but I doubt that I did any real damage,” he says. “No blood was shed. And business is business, come on.”

“People take that shit personally,” I say.

“Too bad for them if they can’t take a joke,” he says.

“Too bad for you,” I say.

He changes the subject.