Shadow Dancer

Natty Prentiss sensed something was really wrong.  He was only five and three quarters, but everybody told him how smart he was for his age.  Mom hadn’t come home in a long time, but that wasn’t really unusual for Mom.  Aunt Sara said Mom had a “problem” and that her problem made her go away a lot.  But this time it was different.  He didn’t know for sure why, but it was really different.  For one thing Aunt Sara was crying a lot and she would hardly look at him.  He wondered at first if it was because he had done something wrong and she was mad at him…but it wasn’t that kind of crying.  He was pretty sure it was something else.  And that “something else” wasn’t good.

He sat on the sofa and tried to concentrate on a Roadrunner cartoon, but he couldn’t help thinking about Mom.  Where was she?  Was she hurt?  Was she…maybe dead?  That could be why Aunt Sara was crying so much.  He fidgeted.  Naw, she wasn’t dead.   That’s silly.  Mom couldn’t be dead.  She wasn’t old or anything.  He felt bad for even thinking about her that way.   Jeez, kid; what kind of a dork are you?

At some point he heard the doorbell ring and Aunt Sara answered it.  He couldn’t see who was there, but Sara was talking in a low voice to someone.  It sounded as though they were arguing, but Natty wasn’t sure.  He wasn’t sure of anything right now.  He wondered if it was someone who knew something about Mom.

When Aunt Sara entered the room a man was with her.  Natty wasn’t certain, but he thought he had seen the man before…maybe in a picture.  He was really big and old and he stood there staring at Natty.  Sara was smiling even though tears streamed down her cheeks.  She started to say something, but the man held up his hand and she stopped.  He moved slowly toward the couch where Natty was sitting and then squatted on his haunches and smiled at him.  His eyes were big and gray and Natty sensed that the man was very sad.  Even his smile was sad.

“Natty,” he began gently and Natty liked the sound of his voice.  It was sort of like Mom’s.  “I’m your grandfather.  My name is Nathan too.”

“Really?”  Natty wasn’t all that surprised.  He had heard Mom talk about her father.  Mostly it was good stuff.

“Really.”

“How come I’ve never seen you before?”

The big man sighed.  “You have, but it was a long time ago.  And it’s a long story.  I’ll have to tell you about it sometime.”  His knees cracked as he rose and sat beside Natty, putting his arm around the boy’s shoulders.  After a few moments he spoke.  “I’m sorry son, but I have some really bad news.”

“Is it about Mom?”  Natty looked up the man and felt something harden in his stomach as the man nodded.

“Is she dead?”  Natty didn’t know exactly where that came from, but he knew even before the old man said anything that it was true.

“Yes, Natty.  She is.”  Natty felt the man’s arm tighten around his shoulders.  “I’m so sorry.”

Natty wanted to cry, but he couldn’t.  He just sat there staring as Wiley Coyote unpacked something from “Acme.”  Maybe it wasn’t true.  Maybe there was some sort of mistake.  Mom had gone away lots of times and she always came back.  “Are you sure?”