Becoming

After work my grandfather would wash his hands in the kitchen sink He would use Fairy Liquid as lather, and as a boy I’d watch him scrub stains from his skin, clear dirt from his fingernails. Where have these hands been I’d wonder, what is out there? Now, after each working each day I stare at my own hands in my own sink. It’s a powerful sensation. This mixture of pride and sadness.

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