Listen!
THE UNLOVED BELOVED "The Unloved Beloved" is written by the crazy son of the man who teaches the masculine arts in the back of his hardware store. Everybody takes his classes, for he never shames his students for their difficulties. He even forgives the one who stole a Winchester propped against a wall in the rain with a "please don't steal me" sign on it. He needs help. His fishing lines are tangled, and he wants reassurance about his son, who is supposed to be good at what he does, though his father does not understand. What the man seeks from the thief is confirmation that his son does well, that he is famous, which is the kind of information only a thief would have. The man and the thief walk downstairs together, not where the police can see them but behind all the activity in the store and mer- cifully far away from the other students. "He takes up a lot of space," the thief says. "I mean, more than just his own." He wants the man to be pleased, but he has never understood such men, and he fears his comment will be taken poorly, so the thief turns to the man and smiles and tries to make a joke of it. He must not piss off the one man who could explain him to himself in such a way that he could see he is not a thief, that what he's done is entirely acceptable to the teacher of masculine arts.