Horse

FF#1

A little boy had rung the doorbell. 

He was a loner and didn’t really know the neighbours beyond the hello and a nod at the elevator, but he recognized the kid from the 5th floor.

"Uncle, everyone is at the swimming pool. My mother is not back yet, and I am missing the party!"

He liked kids, as long as they were someone else's, but wasn't quite sure what this upset boy wanted him to do.

"I am thirsty."

The boy was scrutinizing his horse painting as he brought the glass of water.

"I love horses," he was told as the boy handed the glass back for more, "I have a baby horse upstairs, you know, he’s this big, and I feed him grass for breakfast, lunch and dinner."

He smiled, and tried to play along. But wait. Everyone has been talking about those horror stories in the neighbourhood school, and people were getting paranoid. And here he was, an unmarried man alone in the flat with a kid with a hyperactive imagination.

He told the kid that his mother might be back-- he shouldn’t miss the rest of the party, and in any case he wasn't thirsty anymore.

9 Jun 2016