THE SHITTY END OF THE STICK

in his imagination he pulled his features apart and put them on other faces
the mouth on her
the nose on him
the eyes on the man who read the news
he thought that, taken separately, his features were not so bad
the thin lips
the close set eyes
the long nose, bulbous at the end and with a odd crease that made it look like a penis.
He had seen similar features on Hollywood stars -- had studied the faces of the famous and how they were put together, how their features had been placed in such a way that what they formed was considered acceptable or handsome
he recognized that his own features were not ugly in themselves but that, when placed together, they created a discordant image
an odd face that seemed somehow distorted
wrong
ruined
he thought it had cost him dearly
ugly people, he said to himself, always got the shitty end of the stick