The Collector

“Where are the others?”, he asked. “They are in the back of my truck”, Sands answered. “Be careful the long thin one is particularly torn. It was hanging in a fence when I picked it up. It is quite tattered.

“Long thin ones are the hardest to find. They are scarred and extremely difficult to mend. The chubby ones always seem happy but who knows what goes into making these. Thank you for bringing these to me. I know, collection days are especially long for you.”

“Well, you know, you got to do, what you got to do! How long do you think, to mend these?” Sands asked.

“Probably six months to a year.”

Far away, among the hills, played a little boy. He jumped on the puddles formed by recent rainfall and splashed water so it soaked him wet. The sun was out after a long spell of rains. The little boy of six found his shadow extraordinarily amusing. It appeared and disappeared as the sun did in the left-over clouds. He tried to catch it as he was jumping in the puddles, so that the shadow drowned. But it seemed indestructible. It appeared untouched over and over again.

His mother worked in the rice farm near by. It was plantation time. She yelled, “stop doing that you silly boy, you will fall sick again!”

“Dow dow ripple, dee dee tipple, tipple ripple, double doo!” the little boy sang his favourite song, as he continued with his mission to drown his shadow.

It had been a busy day for his mother. She finally wrapped up her share of the work and hurried towards her son. She lifted him by his arm and dragged him along, towards the hut. She must have spanked him a couple of times, because he was crying.

‘Tired’ was not a word in her vocabulary, as she began to prepare dinner as soon as they reached the hut throwing the little boy by the door.

Seeing that his child was howling, as he entered the hut, he was mad with anger. He struggled towards the child, trying to focus on what his wife was up to, he grabbed the boy and beat him until he couldn’t utter another word. Next was his wife’s turn.

After the daily commotion had died down, she came out of the house for some peace. She sat by the door holding her dear boy who had cried himself to sleep.

The sun was about to set. She saw a big truck afar on the highway. To her surprise, the truck proceeded towards her and came to a screeching halt.

A dark man stepped out of it with a big, bulky bag. “I save the indestructible ones and mend the injured of the past, in the hope of creating happiness. I collect shadows.” He said.