World of Wrestling 38
(The Park)

Jessica: “I am trying to be honest!”
Jessica quietly whined.

Joshua: “I’m not saying you’re lying to me.”
You just need to unwind.

After drying off and before heading home,
Joshua and Jessica took a walk.
The awkwardness they both had been feeling-
Inside was close to shock.

Jessica: “Well why’d we have to drive this far-
North to get to a park?
There are hundreds of them here in Atlanta!
We probably could have walked.”

Joshua: “This is the park that I met Ann.”
Joshua said with a sigh.

Jessica stopped right in her tracks.

Jessica: “This is near where she died?”

Joshua: “No. Not quite. It isn’t the park,
Where I played my last game.
We met over in that sandbox.
… You don’t think this is lame?”

Jessica frowned and looked around,
Trying to assess why-
Joshua would bring her to this park.

Joshua: “Sometimes we’d bring kites to fly.
We were part of a homeschool group
That met here every week.
Some of the kids would even tease us,
But we were really meek.
Everyone seemed to think that-
We’d be married someday.”

Jessica: “Honestly Joshua, what’s going on?
Do you expect me to be like: ‘Yay?’
I told you I’d let you show me,
All that makes you you.
From kids and colors and dancing,
To parks and tales of blues.”

Joshua: “And I thank you for it, Jessica.
I’m not trying to make you mad.
I’m just letting you know who I am,
By showing you all I’ve had.
You’ve been a really good friend to me,
You’ve helped me through thick and thin.
I just wanted to spend some time with you,
And let you look within…”

Then their walk abruptly ended,
On the tailgate of Joshua’s van.
He went inside and got his guitar,
And began to sing about Ann.

It was a song Jessica heard a few times,
She knew he’d made it up.
But she liked to hear his baritone voice,
So she listened and shut-up.

Joshua’s Song: “People say they know me.
But they don’t know this man.
They don’t know the things I’ve seen,
They don’t understand.
I’ve been through Heaven
And I’ve been through Hell,
But nothing beats the feeling I get,
When they ring that bell.

My Ann has gone from me.
She’s living in the sky.
Now I don’t know what else to do
While time passes me by.
She was all my hope and world.
Now I’m just coasting along.
So I write songs like this one,
And I wrestle all day long.”

But as Joshua trailed off in his song,
And instead of the next verse,
He looked straight into Jessica’s eyes,
And played her something he’d rehearsed.

Joshua’s Song: “My body’s lonely.
My body it is weak.
My soul is weary
Of crying in my sleep.
But friends like Jessica-
Have pulled me from Ann’s grave.
This is why I wrestle now.
For the hope that really saves.

Jessica you’ve shown me,
That my love is not dead.
She lives inside of me,
I remember what you said.
And perhaps one day soon,
You’ll open my eyes still more,
And I’ll be able to give to you,
The things you’ve been longing for.”

Jessica stared at Joshua,
And he awkwardly looked down.
She raised his chin with her hand,
And gone was her frustrated frown.

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