The Man Who Couldn’t Cry
A beautiful man with a wonderful heart and a spirit to match, loved to make friends from town to town, but could never find a home, all because he couldn’t cry. In eight towns no one really knew why. They didn’t bother to ask. They all assumed he was just incapable of showing genuine emotions. They kind of got it right, perhaps, but nevertheless, he was exiled to his ninth town.
In his ninth town, an Irish town called Dalkey, he decided to do something different. For the first time in his life, he kept to himself. But it never took long for The Man Who Couldn’t Cry to find a friend. In Dalkey, he found a friend named Nan. Nan and the Man who Couldn’t Cry became friends for a very long time, without really trying. Those are the best kinds of friends.
Nan asked him one day, “why is it that I’ve never seen you cry? What happened to you? Why is it that you can’t cry?” She asked him a thousand different ways. She must have wanted to ask for a long time, because the whole experience of asking was cathartic for Nan. When Nan finally stopped asking, The Man Who Couldn’t Cry said, “because I can’t make tears.” Nan didn’t believe it. “What kind of alpha male bullshit is that? Why can’t you fucking cry?” The Man Who Couldn’t Cry grabbed her by the arms and said, “can you hear me? I said, I can’t make tears.” He said it a thousand different ways, but maybe she wouldn’t believe it. He punched the wall in frustration. And without a peep, Nan walked out the door, just as they all did. He looked at his mashed up hand, shook his head. “They never believe me.” Then he turned around without saying anything else.
He just left town.
