The man with the bag was scary.

Thomas ran toward his mother, his little legs pumping. He’d caught a glimpse of the man over his shoulder. He was tall and lean, and he wore a baseball cap which cast a shadow over his face. His facial features were lost in the shadow, except for his eyes. His eyes seemed to glow.

Up ahead, his mother turned and, laughing, called for him. “Come-on, buddy! Hurry up!”

Thomas threw his arms back and forth. He was wearing his new sneakers. They made him faster, carrying him away from the shadow man toward the safe embrace of his mother’s arms.

As he reached his mother, he dared to look back. The shadow man’s long gait had given him an unfair advantage. While Thomas ran as hard as he ever remembered running, the shadow man had lumbered at a leisurely pace, and yet, he was upon them. A cloud rolled across the sky and his face disappeared almost entirely, except for those eyes. And his mouth. Looking at Thomas, he spoke.

“Hey there, little man,” he said with a crooked smile. Thomas could feel his mother’s arms tighten around him. ?Stranger danger, ?he thought. ?Stranger danger, stranger danger, stranger danger!

Looking up to Thomas’s mother, the man smiled wider and said, “I have a grandson I reckon to be about his age. How old is he?”

Thomas’s mother loosened her grip.

Stranger!

Danger!

“He’s…uh,” she stumbled over her words. “Three!” she said, laughing. “I’m still getting used to using years instead of months.”

The man laughed with her, a deep, rolling belly laugh that sounded like Santa Clause in the cartoons.

“They grow up quick,” the shadow man said. “Like weeds.” The two adults shared a conspiratorial chuckle.

Meanwhile, Thomas was eyeing the bag in the man’s hand. Perhaps it held the secret to the shadow man. Maybe its contents would betray his motive, be it good or bad. Thomas stared at it intensely. The words on the side meant nothing to him, save for their blocky look and the dark ink in which they appeared to be stamped. The bag looked foreboding.

After a few seconds, Thomas realized all was quiet and looked up to see the man looking down at him. Stranger danger!?

“Wondering what I got, little man?”

Thomas didn’t move.

“Been out shopping. Got me some pants. But…I got something else, too.” He bent down, his shadow face coming close enough to Thomas that he could smell coffee and cigarettes on his breath. He scooped a hand into the bag and snatched something with lightening speed. Showing it to Thomas’s mother, the man asked, “May I?”

Thomas’s mother smiled and the man knelt. He held out his hand, and there, in his palm, was a handful of candy. Just as Thomas saw the candy, the clouds parted and light reflecting off the foil of the candy illuminated the shadow man’s face. He had a kind smile and gentle eyes. And candy. The shadow man had candy.

Thomas smiled then, too, and took the candy.

As they walked away, Thomas stuffing the first piece of candy in his mouth, his mother asked. “Why were you so shy back there?”

“Stranger danger,” Thomas said.

She smiled and knelt beside him, bringing herself eye-level with him. “Thomas, I’m glad you remembered that, but there’s no danger if I’m there. Momma won’t let anything bad happen to you ever again.”

Thomas supposed not. After all, the shadow man had candy and his mother’s approval, which was two things more than his father had.

Perhaps all men weren’t made of shadows.

Posts on this prompt:

All in a Nights Work by BandE

Wierd by Aniket

Post on prior prompt:

For Old Times’ Sake by Shruti

Kuniyoshi Discovered by BandE

Dear Diary,

Sorry for calling you Dairy, all these days. Madam Krishnan corrected me yesterday. Dairy is the one we get milk products from.

I thought you guys shared the name. Apparently not. Sorry about that.

I saw an episode of Castle today. The episode started and flash-backed to… argh… sorry… flashed-back to ’36 hours earlier’. Why is it always either 36 hours or 20 years when they flash back. Why not 30 hours or say 19 years? Are they all created by the same person? Or is there a rule? Beats me.

Any way, so I watched some TV. Played ‘Kill the Geek’. Its so much more awesome than that stupid Angry Birds. Don’t know why the girls love it so much?

Speaking of girls, Suzie asked me to for a movie with her. I told her why not play games at home. She said she wanted to go out.

I told her we can buy comic books instead, and then she said she wanted to hang with me.

I don’t get it. We hang around at school all day! And who says no to comics? Girls are wierd. Oh, wait. Is it wierd or weird? Wierd sounds about right.

See you tomorrow.

Peace-out Succa!

They had been in love with each other since the time they didn’t even know what being in love means. Theirs was a relationship everyone envied. This was the very fact that made him struggle to keep holding her hand even when it stopped meaning anything to either of them.

She was attractive, elegant, reticent, intelligent and easily dominated. He was smart, well-mannered and a downright charmer. He loved being envied and she believed that the love was for her. Whatever be the reasons, their bond had survived for the better part of 14 years. He charmed her into submission and she drifted along. But he always credited himself with being an ideal partner. He was considerate, undemanding, unquestioning and responsive to all her needs and wants. Just one thing pricked him now. He needed to talk about it; not because she deserved to know the truth but because he needed to get it off his conscience. 
He was jolted back to reality when he realized that the waiter was offering him another drink. He gratefully accepted. He never drank too much, but the reason he avoided drinking was the very reason he gulped down another drink tonight – alcohol helped him blur out the truth. 
They went back to their palatial apartment after the party. Now was the time. He went and hugged her. She just looked at him, surprised. There had been no show of affection in this house for almost two years now. “I am sorry,” he burst out weeping. A faint glint crossed her eyes. He was taken aback for a moment but then thought he had just imagined it. He had to continue before he lost the nerve. 
“I have always been unfair to you. I promised to love you all my life but midway down the line, the warmth was lost. I could see you taking tremendous efforts to reach out to me but I didn’t respond. I apologize for all of it…”
His wife stroked a finger against her wedding ring. “I have always loved you, honey. What’s got into you suddenly? You even drank too much tonight. I guess you should just go to bed. We can talk about this tomorrow.”
“No Susan, I need to finish what I want to say. I might not be able to bring myself to talk about this ever again. I always tried being a good husband, not realizing that it wasn’t enough. Then three years back, I met Alana. I was just too stressed by everything in life at that point of time. It wasn’t that I didn’t feel guilty about what I was doing. I tried quite a few times to end everything and come back home to you but something kept pulling me back to her.”
Susan looked on unblinkingly. He expected her to cry, be angry, break down, but she just looked at him. Her face refused to give away any emotion. After what seemed like an eternity, she took a deep breath. “Three years? Why? You kept me in darkness for three years! You left me struggling alone to keep our marriage going for three years! Why tonight…?”
“She met with an accident last week. The doctors tried their best to save her but she passed away two days back. I couldn’t even go to see her one last time. What would I go as? What relationship did I have with her? She upheld her repute while she lived, and I didn’t want to abuse it after her death. But I couldn’t live with the guilt. I had to confess to you…”
Susan smiled warmly. “I wish you would have told me sometime back darling. Alana might have lived. You might have lived! The police will arrive here any minute. They have received an anonymous package of photographs of you and Alana together. It will be better for you if you run off right now. I will tell the police that I know nothing of your whereabouts. That’s the least I can do. For old times sake…”

You might think of me as a confident, self-assured, charming and decent person. What you don’t see is how much I am obsessed about having my options.  It might be a disorder but I got to have my options. I eat only at restaurants that have a buffet. Or at least a salad bar! I always cook more than one dish. I always have at least two pants, shirts, pairs of socks, shoes, watches, deodorants ready for the next day. I always have to choose between a few things. I am perfectly comfortable with infinity. I love the thrill of being conflicted, the thrill of working out the pros and cons, the glory of choosing one over many others, the feeling of power through it all.

And why should anyone think that my love life should be any different. I have always dated multiple people.  And whenever I have met new people, I have enjoyed the process of making a decision on which relationship should I be letting go. Of course I have been let gone too, but I have always managed to have options.

Being in the game for twelve long years I began to think it’s perhaps time take a plunge and get married! There are these two people that I’m seeing of late and both of them have been mildly suggesting the next step. But I can’t work with mere suggestions. I can’t assume my options and make a decision on one. My options have to be concrete. And that’s why I bought these two rings! Tomorrow I’m going to ask both of them. I am very nervous! I am going to be devastated if either of them refuses because that would mean that I wouldn’t have options to choose from.

But I do strongly feel that I will hear “yes” two times tomorrow! And then, there would be that period of extreme delight. Of choosing, weighing my options, letting one go and embracing the other.

It had been for a while to be honest. 8 long years of going around. She was almost on the verge of giving up, you know, like that movie Jennifer Aniston was in, what’s it called, oh yeah, ‘He’s Not That Into You’. But Ben, her Ben, was no Ben Affleck for sure. He was slightly plump, the short fuzz hid the baldness and yet that dimpled smile was what had kept her going. That and the $8 million inheritance he was gonna get when his parents popped off!

Ok ok, popped off is harsh. When they moved on..there, does that sound better? Also, she wasn’t getting any younger you know. Almost hitting 30!! Biological clock ticking away like crazy. She kept wondering when he would pop the question. Didn’t have the guts to ask him straight out. Could not even dream of moving on if she had to dump him. And that ‘if’ was a BIG one!

And today he told her there was a surprise. He had blindfolded her and brought her downstairs. At the last step she hesitated, surprising herself.

He turned around and asked her, ‘What’s wrong?’. ‘Nothing’, she said. ‘Well come on then…’ he said..’Your surprise is waiting for you.’