Guy--Part One

Splog # 1

One

   Guy was trailing along behind his parents, trying to pretend that he was all alone and could go wherever he pleased and do anything he wished. He could see his mother and father taking turns sneaking a look back at him to make sure he was still in sight. They were trying to do it without him knowing, he could tell, because they would pretend to look at something and then his eye would catch one of theirs light on him for the briefest of moments and then skitter off somewhere else. He thought it was foolish of them to worry about him. As if he couldn't take care of himself. So what if he was only seven years old? He had already had not a few adventures of which they knew nearly nothing, only seeing some results that couldn't be hidden, such as a cut knee or a tear in a shirt, which had to be explained as vaguely as possible so that he wouldn't have to actually lie about them.

   As he watched his parents, he tried to pretend that they were just some interesting people that he was walking behind as he strolled down the avenue. He liked looking at his mother's shirt. It was shiny and bright blue and had green and yellow dragons on it. The dragons were flying or crouching, as far as he could tell, depending on whether their wings were outspread or folded into their sides. Where their wings were folded, their legs were tucked underneath them, but their eyes were too small to tell if they were asleep or not. It gave him a glow of excitement to think about the dragon that wasn't on his mother's shirt, but that, hopefully, she would never find out about. Mothers probably wouldn't take that kind of information too well.

   His father was carrying an umbrella, which didn't make sense to Guy when the sun was so bright and the temperature so warm and what clouds he could see were only streaks, or maybe smudges, on the light blue sky. Sometimes he couldn't tell where the clouds left off and the sky began. But his father had his umbrella. Could he remember a walk with his father when the umbrella hadn't been present? He didn't think so. Could he remember a time when the umbrella had been used for its original purpose? Well, yes - once or twice. He had walked under the umbrella in a drenching rain and had played at sticking his hand out from under to feel the fresh water splashing on it. But it was hard to keep the rain from going up his sleeve, so that experiment hadn't lasted. In the snow, he'd rather stay out from under the umbrella 'cause snow coming down was just a little magical. So, in conclusion, he decided the umbrella was useful sometimes and sometimes not. He had carried it for a little while but it was almost as big as he was, so he'd had to hold it up in front of him with both hands. When his arms got tired, he'd dragged it behind him, but that wasn't really carrying it, which was what he wanted to do. It made an interesting squiggly line when he was walking in dirt or sand, but on a road or sidewalk only made a grating noise that he didn't like and that also alerted his father, who suggested that contact with the ground, besides being the opposite of what an umbrella was made for, might be harmful to its components. Guy kind of liked carrying the umbrella up and opened, but that was only okay before they got to the town where there were too many people who might get bumped or poked. It was the same when he closed it and put it over his shoulder, like a soldier with his gun. The first time he turned to see what his shadow looked like, he almost knocked some peaches from a stand he was passing. So he had given it back to his father and he felt a little freer, if less responsible.

 His parents had stopped to listen to a young man who was playing a guitar and taking turns singing and blowing into a harmonica. The singer had curly hair and his clothing was bright and moved a lot when he tapped his foot or shook his head. There were only a few people standing around so Guy moved to where his parents could see him but he wouldn't have to stand right near them. He didn't understand everything the singer was saying, but it seemed to be about a lot of people walking around on a sunny day, so he felt like he could be a part of the song. And when the singer caught his eye and winked at him, he couldn’t help letting a small bubble of laughter pop out of his mouth. He felt himself weaving back and forth to the music and bouncing a little at the same time. He noticed his parents swaying together and then realized that they were watching him with that "Isn't he sweet?" look. At the same time, his parents realized what they were doing and they brought their attention back to the singer so they wouldn't embarrass him. When his mother finally glanced back to where he had been standing, Guy was gone.

   On seeing that look in their eyes, Guy had immediately stopped moving to the music and stepped back from the gathering around the singer. Someone else had stepped up and he realized he couldn't see his parents. They often told him that if he couldn't see them then they couldn't see him and he knew that would upset them. So he decided to move around until he was behind them and then surprise them. He crouched a little and tried to stay blocked by other people until he could reach them. Standing behind his father, he tried to think of the most effective way to suddenly appear. He could see them turning their heads, trying to catch a glimpse of him. He tried to maneuver between the two of them so that when they finally looked down he could pretend he had been there all the time.

   Suddenly a shadow blocked out the sun and when he turned to see where it had come from, there was a person standing fairly close behind him, paying no attention to the singer or his parents or anything but him. The person was a man. He had a funny hat, like a bowl with a wide brim. His eyes were sparkling.