Still, Dark
"Grandpa tell me the story
again!", the young boy yelled in
excitement, as he and his
parents entered the room. It
had been only one month to
the day since the last time they
had come visit the young boy's
grandfather, but as usual he
acted as if it had been longer.
"Woah there my boy!", the
boy's grandpa said, as he
jumped into his lap. "Gifton be
careful!", his mother yelled at
him. "Oh he's fine! This old
man still has some strength in
him!", the grandfather said.
"Tell me the story, grandpa!"
The old man tried to hide the
smile that crept up onto his
face. He was always glad to
hear his grandson running
down the hallway to his room
just as anxious and happy to
see him as he was to see the
little boy. "Ok. So there was
this small town out in the west
called Blindentown. Now you
had New York that was famous
for being the city that never
sleeps and Florida famous for
being the sunshine state, but
Blindentown was famous for
one thing-being the darkest
town in the whole country at
night! Now it didn't get much
sunshine in the daytime either,
but it was all just as beautiful.
At night every store light,
street light, and every house
light would be turned off. It was
so dark you couldn't see your
hand in front of your face! Each
night everyone hurried and got
in bed because legend has it
that if you're not asleep while
you're in bed whatever you
hear outside will force it's way
into your house and eat you
alive! So every night make sure
when you go to bed you go
right to sleep, ok?" Gifton
nodded his head slowly. The old
man pulled a dollar out his robe
and handed it to him. "Now run
down the hall to the vending
machine and get some candy."
Gifton grabbed the dollar and
ran off. His parents stood silent
for awhile. "I'm gonna tell him
one day," the old man said, not
even turning around to face
them. "You have to, Dad," the
mom said. "He's going to figure
it out eventually." The old man
shook his head, staring out the
window into a bright sunny day,
into darkness.
Copyright © San'Tina Mickens | Year Posted 2014
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