Hard Of Hearing, by Roy Gomez

I can’t hear to my right. That’s because of my ear. It’s bad. Every lousy thing that’s ever happened to me has seeped right through it. Now it’s all black –black and damned. Being partly deaf is okay, though, it’s the slow rotting that I hate. Years ago, when I still believed in people, I used to turn that same ear toward them – kind, sympathetic, I allowed that we all make mistakes. But eventually it all came to nothing. That withering right ear just knows. I’m cursed. But that’s all right too. By every word I hear, so is everybody else.