Broken indeed. Good stuff. It reminds me of this one time in a bar, the broken bar made for people to sip libations of numb yourself before you can think about it kinda bar.

Old man always sat there drinking single malt scotch. In a corner, always mumbling to himself. As it was so shall it be, but I decided to say hi and ask what his deal was.

No family, no friends, he had been abducted by aliens decades ago. back then he had family, friends, the love that makes us human.

The aliens offered to take him to a distant planet far away and in return they would give him unheard of feelings, some stronger than anything he had experienced before. He decided that he could not leave his family.

But the funny thing was that the moment he got back, any mention of aliens sent his friends and family scurrying away until he was alone and regretted having never gone with the aliens.

I knew there was a lesson somewhere in this man’s words, but I was too afraid to ask and I left him. Perhaps I sensed that there was something infectious about his words and the last thing I needed was to be alone.

He still sits there mumbling to himself in that corner, angry he wasn’t with the aliens.