Monster In The Park
"Hey shorty, go get the ball."
This was the easy way out for all the big boys. They started to grumble about the heat and how difficult it was to field and bowl in such tiring conditions.
The little boy turned to look at the garbage dump at the north western corner of the park and what looked like a pile of rags shuffling amidst the heap of filth. It was officially a park for kids to play. But its convenient location, away from most of the residential complexes, meant it was the place where decent and nice folks came in night to throw their filth, only stopping to exchange uneasy nods. There was a huge fine to pay if they were caught dumping trash, everyone caught everyone else all the time.
"Didn't you hear me?" The biggest of all pushed him hard in the chest. The little boy fell down. It made the big boys feel better, helped them hide the fear that was clouding their faces.
The lil boy got up, brushed dust and grass off his clothes and started to walk towards the northwestern corner, turning every now and then to take a look at all the big guys grinning and sneering. The lil boy took a deep gulp as he reached his destination and spotted the ball in its hands.
"Can I have..." and words froze in his mouth for a while as the thing turned around.
Underneath the dirty ragged sack was the most twisted face he'd ever seen. Fat stubby fingers shoved an almost green loaf of bread into a black gaping hole with fiery yellow claws that reached out and grabbed the green bread and shredded and ground it to dust till a long blackish tongue came and pulled the greenish yellow mass into the darkness... could almost hear a thousand little fiendish dwarves squirming inside that abyss, waiting to pounce on whatever came down that black hole, never to escape... ever.
It stared at the lil boy... sweaty and dirty, then at the big boys standing at far corner of the park who shuffled on their feet as they caught his gaze... trying to hide behind each other, and then at the yellow ball in his hands... rolling it slowly and throwing it in air and catching it. A glint, barely perceptible to normal eye, shone in its eyes every time they followed the ball’s rise in air. And a barely audible grunt of triumph gushed forth every time blackened hands took the ball in their grip, like a vice, only to hurl it up again leaving behind tell tale streaks. Tiger stripes.
And then suddenly fear took over as a stray dog waged a war over _its_ carefully assembled five course meal. The red ball found itself rolling in banana skins as there was none to break its fall. The lil boy answered its expectant stares and picked it up, as the monster was distracted by a scrawny stray. It was too late; the dog won. After staring at the dog run away till it turned a corner on the street, it turned to look for the ball.
The lil boy almost gasped in horror.
Gone were its monstrous claws and teeth. Instead there were hands blackened by bruises and dirt. The hideous face had given way to a 40 year old face twisted by pain. Eyes, red and fiery earlier, seemed have burnt too much in their own fury and ached to put out the fire, bucketful of hunger ready to douse it out and streak across the face, giving it the salty bath they hadn't had in a long time... which would be since morning.
"Hurry up bozo, we aint got all day" a voice screamed from behind him and suddenly everything seemed to change as others followed the suit.
In that one moment the lil boy felt all the big bullies shrink in size, there voices no more than squeak of mouse to his ears, fading further away into distance as they returned to comfort of their AC rooms.
In that moment the boy felt something swell inside his chest and overflow to his eyes.
And in that moment, eyes clouded by something he just discovered, the lil boy saw It, turn into Him.
Also in that moment the boy's hands discovered something inside his shorts' pockets.
"Will you play with me?"
The boy made the offer with a handful of chocolates. Chocolates… the bullies were to snatch from him later.
