In a backwards town in a place down south
A child was born who had no mouth.
He couldn't scream, he couldn't sigh
He'd sit and stare and sniff and cry.
This tortured youth who could not speak
The Lipless Boy, the Silent Freak.
The childhood names he gained got worse
The spiteful taunts. The mocking verse.
He longed to yell and swear and bite
He needed words with which to fight.
No matter how hard Johnny tried,
No noise could he make from inside.
His yellow face looked fit to burst.
Was he malformed? Was he cursed?
His mother couldn't rightly say
She called a specialist that very day.
He inspected Johnny with casual ease
And gave his face a gentle squeeze.
"I see the problem," the specialist said
And promptly sliced open Johnny's head
He sprinkled sugar on the poor boy's brain
"Stop screaming madam, I can explain
The reason why your son is mute
Is that he's not a child. He's a large grapefruit."
In a backwards town in a place down south
A child was born who had no mouth...
YOU ARE READING
Dead Short
Short StoryDeath! Zombies! Cannibalism! Grapefruits! This collection of darkly humorous short stories and narrative poems, from the co-writer of iBooks best selling book of lies and misinformation 'Not A Lot Of People Know That', has a little something for ev...
