I Want to Be a Policeman

He was four when he said it first.
“I want to be a Policeman.”
He said it again when he was eight.
“I want to be a Policeman.”

The mother who loved him laughed and said,
“Oh that’s fine. That sounds like fun.”
He said it over and over through the years.
She stopped laughing.

At 21 he walked out the door,
a gun at his side and
a bulletproof vest protecting his heart.
Hers was fully exposed.

—Caroline Reid