joseph

Joseph had a way of knowing and speaking that set him apart from most people. The old lady in the photo saw it and felt it and said as much to his mother on the same day Joseph was born – before he had a chance to really know or say anything. Then both women died and nobody else much mentioned it. Until Joseph turned thirty. Then everybody started to talk, because the town was small and Joseph was not and what else was a small town to do?

Some people said he was special and not quite right in the head and maybe that was where all his goodness came from – he didn’t know any better.

Others said he was marked by a higher power that tended toward Jehovah but from time to time became an eastern deity or a weird kind of mystic energy.

Everyone agreed he was different. What they couldn’t agree on – what no one really wanted to agree on – was why.