The Shadow Knows

           I will be so glad when the guys at the dealer finally finish repairing my car  I don’t mind going home from the bar late at night when I can drive home. All I have to do is try to drive like I haven’t been drinking. But walking these streets late at night is kind of creepy. I should have sacrificed my pride and asked someone to drive me home, but I really didn’t want any of the jokers I hang around with make some comment of my being afraid to walk home in the dark.

           It doesn’t help that I am at this moment remembering all those the creepy stories that my grandfather Jack used to tell me about these particular streets being haunted at night. I had heard rumours of creatures, like everyone does that grows up in this small town, but Grandpa Jack used to speak in very specific terms of creepy characters, beasts of the night and gory details that right now are dancing in my head with heavy feet. Thanks a lot old man!

           Well, so far things are alright, I guess. I keep repeating the words my mother used to say about my being afraid of the dark, which I definitely was, especially when I was staying overnight with my grandparents. She would say, “There’s nothing out there in the dark that isn’t around in the daytime.” I wish that that helped in some way, but it doesn’t really.

           Oh no! I am in for it now. I can see the shadow of someone walking behind me. I can’t tell how far behind me, he is, and I know that the shadow-caster is definitely male. I won’t try to run from him, as I am wearing my big clod-hopper boots, so I cannot go very fast, not without falling. Besides, what if he isn’t after me. I would just look stupid and fearful if I started running away like that, and he might be someone that knows my friends at the bar.

           I guess that I will just increase my speed a bit and see if he keeps up with me. Then I could tell whether he is after me or not.

           Damn, the shadow is still as far behind me as he was before. He must have sped up too. 

What do I do now? I know. I will slow down now and see if he does so too. That way I can better tell what is going on here.

           Damn again. The shadow has slowed down too. The situation is getting worse. What can I do now? I’ve got it. I will take my cell phone out of my pocket, and then pretend to be talking on the phone and in that way I can make him worry that I might be able to describe him before he tries to steal my money. 

           Damn again. It’s not in any of my pockets. I remember now that I left it charging at home.

           It’s a funny thing. I can’t hear him walking. I just see the shadow his body casts from the streetlights. It’s also strange that the shadow doesn’t get bigger or smaller, as you would think that it would depending on how close to the lights he is. Could it be that I am just imagining this shadow, visiting in my mind the stories of Grandfather Jack? He used to say that I had a vivid imagination as a child – suspecting that there were creatures under my bed, or those that had crawled up the rungs of the television antenna to peer into my bedroom window with their scary faces (I did think that I saw them when I awoke in the middle of the night) on the second floor. I never left that window open except on weekends when I was a teenager and did not want my parents to know how late I was arriving home on a Friday or a Saturday night. Still this is a shadow of a human, so it probably isn’t just my imagination.

           What is my next move then? I know that there is an alleyway coming up soon. It is dark there, no light shining through, and there are wheelie bins and garbage cans there. Maybe I should take a few fast but careful steps into the alleyway, and hide behind a wheelie bin, perhaps arming myself with a metal garbage can lid. Nothing else has worked. I guess that I will have to try that.’

Drawing Near to the Alleyway

           I am drawing near to the alleyway. Suddenly I lunge forward and jog to the left. Then I hide behind a black wheelie bin, and grab the lid of a garbage can. I am as ready as I will ever be. I wait to see the man who is casting the shadow. Minutes pass, and still no man appears. Maybe he knows that I am hiding here, or going for a pee, and is waiting for me to leave.

           More minutes pass, and still no shadow-caster. I screw up my courage, and creep bent over to where the alleyway meets the sidewalk. Then I look first to the right to see whether he is approaching and then to the left, to see whether he has passed. I do not see him in either direction. Where has he gone?

           I have pondered this problem for a short while when I suddenly hear a very loud noise approaching from the right. It is a truck drawing a large load, and the driver has lost all control of his vehicle. It skids onto the sidewalk where I had been walking only a few minutes ago, and crashes into a building and slides past my astonished eyes, heading to where I would have been had I not seen the shadow-caster and hidden in the alleyway.

           Once the truck and its load come to a halt. I run over to see if the driver is okay. Fortunately, he is moving so he is still alive, as well as being conscious because I hear him crying out in pain.. I ask him to lend me his cell phone, so that I can call an ambulance. He reaches into his pocket, takes the phone out and hands it to me. 

           The ambulance people arrive shortly, and are able to drag him out of the seat and into the ambulance. They soon drive him away.

           As I begin to return to my walking home, I am startled by seeing the shadow again. This time, I feel that I should turn around and see who or what is casting the shadow.  Being a rescuer has given me a little courage.  It is a dark image of a man, who looks not unlike my dead grandfather. Then he begins to disappear, slowly vapourizing, and flying away like steam from a boiling kettle. Then I shout out “Thanks, Grandpa Jack, for saving my life, and enabling me to save another man’s life.” I am almost certain he replied “No problem.”