He stands tall, confident, solid.
People notice.
Thin with chiseled edges.
The sun beams.
He sparkles.
They squint at the brightness that reflects his strength.
A girl walks along the sidewalk beside her mother.
She picks up a rock and for a minute thinks about putting it in her pocket.
Instead, she throws it.
It makes contact with the surface and a crack appears.
The mother scolds the little girl.
They look up.
A sparrow in flight.
The sun beams.
It looks like sky.
Until it isn’t.
A collision.
Another crack.
Thunder rolls in the distance.
Darkness eventually settles.
Positive and negative charges in the clouds.
A burst of light that can be seen for miles.
Electricity dissipates.
It suffers a direct hit.
A fire breaks out.
Extinguished but the char marks remain.
The smell of smoke stings the nose.
The water damage is severe.
Repairs drag on for months.
The sparrow builds a nest inside.
Mold and rust form.
They cut it out.
It comes back again.
The foundation starts to feel the weight of the floors above it.
His legs are strong but there is a crack.
His arms are strong but there is a crack.
Crumbling starts depositing small rocks at the foot.
A little girl walks along the sidewalk beside her grandmother.
The grandmother stops to pick up a rock.
For a minute she thinks about putting it in her pocket.
Instead, she wedges the rock inside of the crack.
For she knows that crack well.