Trickster

Ran wasn’t exactly sure when he first realized he was being spied upon, but now he was certain. This was confusing to Ran because it wasn’t always the same. He figured that if he was being followed or watched, the same person would do it. Or, for that matter, it would be a person.

But that wasn’t the case. For the past few weeks he had that niggling feeling that he was being watched. Even when he was sure he wasn’t. Last week, though, when he was riding his bike to his grandmother’s house, he felt he was being observed. 

To get to Tota’s house, Ran had to ride his bike a good five miles. This trip took him from his suburban neighbourhood, through the built-up area of strip malls and car dealerships, down rural roads, past farm fields of maturing corn and soy beans, and into the forested reserve to his grandma's house, where the only noises were the sounds of the birds, and the whisper of the winds in the trees. 

When he rode his bike, Ran was fast, very fast. He had been making this trip for as long as he had been able to ride a bike. Now that he was fifteen years old, he was strong and fit, and he pushed the bike to its limits. But this day, Ran knew he was being watched. There were no drivers, no bikers, no hikers. Ran was alone alone in the forest. He was sure of it.

But he wasn’t. The hair on the back of his neck had stood up, giving him that uneasy feeling, that started his heart racing, and the adrenaline pumping through his system. He skidded his bike to a stop, and looked around. Nothing. Nothing except a giant crow in the upper branches of a white pine. Ran looked up at the bird. It looked back. It seemed to be studying him, watching his every move.

“Shoo! Go on! Get outta here,” he had yelled at the bird, flapping his arms.

But the bird hadn’t flown away. Instead it continued staring at Ran with its shiny black eyes, jumping down to the lower branches of the tree, just out of Ran’s reach. And it kept staring at him, as if it was sizing him up. The bird’s unrelenting stare had unsettled Ran so badly, that he had picked up a stone and made like he was going to throw it at the bird. This was not something Ran would normally do. He knew that crows had wisdom and were considered good luck. But this bird made Ran feel frightened and uneasy. But, he didn’t throw the stone. Instead he had dropped the stone to the ground. The bird had continued to stare at him, almost challenging him to do something. Ran did — he had hopped on his bike and peddled furiously towards his grandma’s house. 

But, when he got to Tota’s house, there was a big crow sitting on the roof. Was it the same crow? He wasn’t sure, but he didn’t want to wait and see. He parked his bike and walked quickly into the house. Just before he closed the door, he was sure he had heard laughing. 

Crows don’t laugh, do they?

A few days later, when he was heading out for school, there was a dog sitting at the end of his driveway. It was a big dog, about the size and heft of a Rottweiler, but jet black, with one floppy ear, and a long tail. It almost looked like a black wolf. It watched as Ran got his bike out of the garage and started to ride down the driveway towards the street. Instead of moving out of the way, it just sat there.

Ran had stopped in front of the big dog. 

“Hey, boy. You lost?”  

The dog got up and had walked slowly towards Ran. It wasn’t growling, but it wasn’t wagging its tale either. Ran was a little wary, but he figured the dog just wanted to get a whiff of him. Ran put out his closed fist for the dog to sniff. 

Instead of snuffling his hand the dog focussed its dark brown eyes on Ran, and looked him up and down, as if somehow taking stock of him. Ran knew that dogs signified friendship and loyalty, so he endured the hard looks from the dog. The dog circled him, looking him over. This was such unexpected behaviour from a dog, that Ran was a little apprehensive and on alert. Probably, he rationalized, because of his strange encounter with the crow. But even on its own, this behaviour was still a bit disquieting.

“I’ve got to go now, boy, or I’m going to be late for school.”

The dog had stood aside as Ran mounted his bike and headed towards school. When Ran had looked back he dog was sitting at the side of the road, watching him pedal away. 

Ran arrived at school ten minutes later. Because he had been late leaving his house, he had ridden fast, taking the off-road shortcut that got him to school in no time. He was huffing from the exertion as he chained his bike to the rack. When he had looked up, he almost yelped. There was the same dog — shiny black coat, floppy ear, long tail, intelligent brown eyes — sitting away at the edge of the football field, looking at him. 

Ran was stunned. How had the dog gotten here so fast? He wasn’t even out of breath. Ran knew that he had taken the fastest, shortest route to get here, yet there sat the dog, calmly watching him. Ran hiked up his backpack, and ran into school.

At the end of the day Ran cautiously left school looking surreptitiously around the school yard for the dog, but it was gone. Ran had sighed in relief. He had tried to convince himself that maybe there were two dogs that looked the same, and that it was a coincidence that he had seen them both on the same day. He had almost convinced himself of these facts by the time he arrived him. Until he saw the same dog sitting across the street, staring at him. Ran opened the garage, and closed it immediately once he was inside. He had been completely and thoroughly rattled.

The next day was the day Ran questioned his sanity. It had been four days since the weirdness had happened, and Ran was beginning to think that he had imagined it all. There had been no crows nor dogs checking him out. 

His day had been normal, without incident. That night Ran had gone to bed after finishing his homework. After he turned off his light, he had lain on his back, looking up at the ceiling.

Tap. Tap. Tap, tap, tap. Tap. Tap, tap.

Ran startled. What the heck? He looked toward the window and through the ambient light of the night, had recognized the crow. He stared at the bird.

“Ran, let me in,” said the crow, its beady black eyes glinting in the dark.

Ran was gobsmacked. He just looked at the crow at the window, his mouth hanging agape.

“Ran, let me in. Open the window. “

“No,” he whispered. “Crows can’t talk.”

“But you hear me talking, right now. Let me in!”

“No!”

There was a light knocking on his bedroom door. Ran jumped. It was his mother.

“Ran, who are you talking to?”

Ran looked at the crow.

“Uh, no one.”

“Ran, you know the rules — no phone after eleven.”

“Don’t worry, she can’t hear me. Let me in,” said the crow.

“Okay, Mom. I’m going to bed now.”

“Okay, hon. Good night.” 

“Night, Mom,” said Ran.

“Night, Mom,” mocked the crow, chuckling. 

Ran listened while his mom padded down the hall.

“She’s gone, Ran. Let me in!”

Ran got up, shut the window blinds, and put in his AirPods and tuned up his music, trying unsuccessfully to ignore the crow at his window. He did not sleep.

The next morning Ran got up early, and headed to Tota’s house. He almost fell off his bike when he entered the forest not far from his grandma’s house. There was the dog in a field watching him. He pedalled faster, not stopping until he reached is grandma’s front yard. He dropped his bike and ran into the house without stopping.

“Ran! What is the matter? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

Ran told his grandma everything that had been happening — the sense of being followed, the crow, the dog, then what the talking crow had said.

“Oh Ran, you have a Trickster.”

“A Trickster?” Ran was confused. “What’s a Trickster?”

“A trickster is a shapeshifter, a supernatural being. It wants something from you.”

‘What could it want from me? I don’t have anything!”

“No, not money or possessions. It wants something else.” She paused. “I think it wants you.”

“Tota, why would it want me?”

Tota looked at Ran, took a deep breath, and started her tale. “When I was a young woman, I met a Trickster. It pretended to be a man. I fell in love with this Trickster, married, and I had three children — your mother, your Aunt Shay, and your Uncle Joe.”

“Uncle Joe? I have an Uncle Joe?”

“Your mother never told you?” Ran shook his head. Tota continued, “Your Uncle Joe was the youngest. The Trickster lived with me as my husband until I gave him a son. When your Uncle Joe was five years old, the Trickster took him, and left. I haven’t seen either since. Now he has come back.”

Ran looked at his grandma. Sitting at the kitchen table, with her hands wrapped around a cup of tea, she had a faraway look in her eyes. If Ran had known the word wistful, he would have used it to describe his grandma’s gaze. 

“Did you tell the police.”

“Yes, I did, even though I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I couldn’t tell them about the Trickster, or they may have taken your mother and Aunt Shay away from me. I just told them that my husband had taken Joe. Your mother was the oldest of my children. She was almost nine years old when the Trickster took Joe. She cried, and cried. She missed him so much, I thought her heart would break." She paused. "But now the Trickster is back.” 

Tuta looked at Ran. “Tricksters are always the first born male in a Trickster family. Your Aunt Shay has only girls, and you, Ran, are the oldest male in the family. I think it wants to see if you, too, are a Trickster, so it can lure you away from here.”

Ran looked at his grandma. “Why does it want to take me away? I don’t want to leave. I want to stay here.” Ran was frantic. 

Tota smiled. “Of course you do! And the Trickster can only make you leave if you want to go. But it will disrupt your life, and try to persuade you to leave because it can offer you a better life. Don’t believe what it says to you! It is all lies!”

“Tota, what do I do?” He was torn. He needed Tota’s help, but her story was so fantastical. Could she help him?

“Ran, I can see you are doubtful, but I need to you have an open mind. I should have had this talk with you before now.” 

She looked at him. “If the Trickster has shown itself to you, that means that it thinks that you may be a Trickster as well. That also means that Joe is probably dead, and had no male children.” 

She paused, gathering her thoughts. “You represent power to the Trickster. You are young and strong, and it will try to take your power from you to keep itself alive. Tricksters are not immortal, but they can live for a very long time. But they need the life-force of a young Trickster to continue to live. You may be that energy source. I suspect that this Trickster has sucked the power from Joe, and now needs another to feed its power.”

Ran didn’t know what to say. What could he say? He just looked at his grandmother, his mouth dry with horror.

“And,” Tota continued, “I might be able to help you scare this Trickster away.”

“How?” asked Ran.

“Has your mother spoken to you about me?”

“No, not really. She always told us that you were a special woman, and that we could always trust you.”

“I am a Witch, Ran.” She paused, gauging Ran’s reaction. “I should be able to help you, by putting a protection spell on you, which will keep the Trickster away.” Tota looked at Ran, waiting to see if he believed what she said.

Ran was not certain that he had heard her correctly.

“A Witch?” he whispered.

“Yes, Ran. And I will protect you, and keep the Trickster away.”

She got up from the table, and went in her bedroom. After a couple of minutes, she returned, carrying a small burlap bundle.

“Here, Ran, sit in this chair.”

Ran sat and watched as his grandma mixed ingredients together in a small bowl. She returned to Ran, sprinkled the mixture from the bowl over his head, and chanted in a language he couldn’t understand. Suddenly, there was a flash of light, which dissolved into dozens of small points of light. As Ran watched, they morphed into small balls of light — incandescent and as bright as tiny little suns that spun and flitted through the air around his head.

“Tota, what are these?” He was awed by the spectres above him.

“They are your protection. They will tire the Trickster by flying around it, keeping it off balance. They will distract the Trickster, and keep it away from you. Eventually, the Trickster will give up, and leave. The only way to kill a Trickster is to tire it, sapping all of its strength, to the point that it just lays down and falls into a death sleep.”

Ran looked at his grandmother. 

“We’re going to kill the Trickster?”

“That is up to the Trickster. If it stays, the protection sparks will wear it out, and it will perish. Or it can leave. The Trickster has to choose.

Ran looked up.

“Won’t people see them,” he said pointing to the tiny flashes of light dancing around his head.

“No, Ran, only those with supernatural powers can see them.”

He looked at his grandmother. “I can see them. That means—”

“Yes, Grandson, it means you are supernatural. We have Witches and Tricksters in our family. You are part of the natural world, and part of the spiritual world.”

He had many, many questions, but didn’t know where to start. He said nothing.

“When you go to school, when you are at home, when you are with your friends, the sparks will protect you. Remember the Trickster is a shapeshifter. It can be an animal, or a bird, or it can borrow the skin of people you know. The sparks will warn you when it is near. Be careful.”

Still confused and dazed, Ran headed to school, just making it into class before the bell. He sat in his first period class, math, trying to concentrate, but he couldn’t. He kept looking up at the sparks, ignoring the teacher. When the classroom door opened, and Vinny Tso entered, the sparks stopped their swooping and diving, and turned towards the door, hovering in midair. Vinnie slouched into class, and took the desk beside Ran.

“Hello, Ran,” said Vinny, leaning close so only Ran could hear. “I am your grandfather, and I have come to free you and take you on a mystical trip of discovery.”

Ran looked over at Vinny — correction, Not-Vinny. No sooner had these words been spoken, then the sparks took flight. They buzzed Not-Vinny’s head, and dive bombed his face. At first Not-Vinny only followed them with his eyes. Then he started to swat at them, always missing.

“Is everything okay, Mr. Tso?” asked Mr. Rayner, the teacher.

“Uh, no. I’m not feeling well,” Not-Vinny said, continuing to swat at the air around his head. He got up and left the class. The sparks followed.

The sparks returned to Ran twenty minutes later. The rest of the day continued without incident. On the way home, the sparks suddenly flew en masse into a tree, out of sight. Suddenly there was a great flapping of wings, and Ran watched as a huge crow lifted into the sky. 

That night, the crow appeared at his window. Before it could even speak, the sparks disappeared and reappeared outside, attacking the crow. Flapping its wings, the crow disappeared into the night.

Over the next week, the sparks protected him, and tormented the Trickster. They dashed to swarm his gym teacher, who dismissed the class early, and fled the gym. They swarmed the delivery driver, who drove off without delivering their parcels. They swarmed his neighbour, Mrs. Telson, who ran into her house, and slammed the front door. They swarmed the big black dog, who, right before Ran’s eyes, turned into a crow and flew away. 

Finally, the sparks had nothing to swarm, so they stayed quietly in the air above Ran’s head. He rode to this grandmother’s home.

“Tota! It worked! The sparks have scared off the Trickster. Thank you!” A giant smile spread across his face.

His grandmother hugged him, smiling. “Ran, I am so happy for you. But that doesn’t mean that the Trickster won’t return. But you are protected.” The smile dropped from her face. “But we still have a problem.”

Ran was confused. 

“A problem? What problem? The Trickster is gone. I can have my life back. I don’t have to be afraid any more.” 

Tota looked at him. “But you, Ran, are a Trickster. What are we going to do about you?”