Gusmas 2012 Title: Coming to Terms Author:jule1122 Prompt: The hand you were dealt
Justin doesn’t get angry anymore. He stops when he needs to, letting Brian massage the cramps from his palm.
People ask him about it. Is he bitter, full of regrets, haunted by what could have been? He gives stupid, pat answers because he doesn’t know how to explain.
He thinks about how he used to draw, with careful lines and painstaking attention to detail, and knows it would never have been able to hold his anger, his pain the way his painting does. He paints now knowing those careful lines wouldn’t be broad enough to hold his joy, his love.