My grandfather cannot walk now but his arms and back are strong. He wears a v-neck work shirt and a gold and diamond Christ-head and he's kneeling on the den floor looking for his pills. His forearms are Italian-dark with latent bulldog power, still big from turning Navy mounts and tagging Mitsubishi Zeros by blood-red dots behind their wings. Now he's moving the recliner and sweating from his nose and steel wool shadow. His chair crashes heavy and Jesus weeps the nose sweat while my daughter crawls behind him and he doesn't know I see. Find the red dots, Pop.
Christopher Cocca's work has been published or is forthcoming in Elimae, Pindeldyboz, Thieves Jargon, Six Sentences, Boston Literary Magazine, Geez Magazine, Brevity, and The Lantern, the literary journal of Ursinus College. He is a recipient of the Ursinus College Creager Prize for Creative Writing.
*The Good Thief was originally published at Tuesday Shorts.*
