October 2022 Flash Lit #8 - Found Family

Found Family

 

My friend Phil, whose hair

curled just like his younger

brother’s and whose skin,

pale as paper, matched

his mother’s, said once,

standing on the green kitchen linoleum,

“Did anyone else ever wonder

if they were adopted?”

I laughed and laughed

because I am adopted.

Mortified, he stared at

the hem of his pants.

I explained, as best I could,

that we are all strangers.

Every one of us is searching

for the real mother,

the blood brothers,

the sisterhood of understanding.

The best we can do

is wrap our warm arms

around each other’s

precious hearts.