The Emperor of Gladness

by Ocean Vuong

“You believe in God, boy?” He took a long drag and considered this. “He’s probably around sometimes.” “Clearly not as much as the devil,” she cackled, her missing front tooth winking behind the smoke.

“With him,” he said, “it wasn’t that I was happy—but that I was okay. And okay was even better than happy because I thought it had a better chance of lasting.”