Hero
By ChatGPT Fiction At 65, Francis had begun to measure his life in absences. Like the promotion that never came. The business he never started. The many betrayals of people whom he had trusted. He sat every evening on the narrow veranda of his modest home, watching the road gather dust and dissolve into dusk. Somewhere, in another version of life, he told himself, he would have been a man people spoke about differently: with admiration, perhaps even a touch of envy. In reality, however, he had become… plain ordinary. Ordinary. The word settled heavily on his chest. That evening, his grandson, little Joe, came running up the path, clutching a dogeared notebook. “Grandpa,” he said, “you know what?” Francis adjusted his glasses. “What is it?” “Teacher asked us to write about a hero.” “Hmm. Who’s your hero now?” “You.” Joe opened his notebook and showed what he had written. “ My Hero: My Grandpa .” “What?” Francis blinked. Then he burst into a laughter that wasn...
