Carl's Lesson

My friend Carl slouches at the wheel of his pickup truck. He slouches waiting at the checkout counter. I can pick him out in any darkened bar because of that slouch.

He told me when he was a little kid his father said, “If you don’t stand up straight I’m gonna pay two niggers from Trenton to chain your shoulders back.”

So began Carl’s education as a racist.

And he still has that slouch.