The Sugarman

Published in the New Literati, St. Edward's University Magazine. (Spring 2021 Issue)

There is a place in the West that I once called home. It’s quite unlike the rest of Texas,

filled with rich flavors and fabulous people. Don’t be deceived by its beauty because there is a

hungry power that plagues its sister city across the Southern border. The Sugarman lurks in corners to prey on the weak of spirit, giving them false hopes and highs. He paints pretty

pictures for those lost in the dark as he returns colors to their broken dreams.

Sugarman is a persona of many faces. He may look like your brother or speak like your

mother. Nevertheless, he has one purpose: distributing and collecting. He offers many types of

sugars, but they all serve the same end. Some help you remember, but most make you forget.

Coke is among his most popular candy, powdered like sugar and made of phosphorane.

Tales of the Sugarman are stories that rob all sweet substances from your life. The price

of the Sugarman is not a cost many are willing to pay, having to sell their soul away. I once knew

a man who dealt with sugar. He told my sister pretty lies that snaked around her skin like

poisonous vines. I tried to save her from his falsities, but he paired his secrets with fine Spanish

wine. We found her in a deadly slumber beneath the ground with a mouth full of sand. I often think about the untold secrets she packed with her for the next life.

Sometimes I sit and wait, wondering when the Sugarman will come for me. He has taken

various friends and family; I must be next in line, right? I could hide or try to turn, but he lurks at

every corner waiting for me, his lost-and-found enemy.

*This story was inspired by the song Sugar Man, by Rodriguez.