The scariest time of day is just after lunch and on the playground.\u00a0 It\u2019s better if the clouds are low but when the sun is out, yes that\u2019s the scariest time of day with only a few adult eyes roving the playground who don’t play.\u00a0 No, they don\u2019t really play.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
I know a boy who walks through insults.\u00a0 No one will play with him, so he plays by himself and doesn\u2019t seem to notice the noise of taunting and teasing. \u00a0 I watch for him near the swing set when his mother drops him off in the morning.\u00a0 His mother always has worry marks on her forehead, but the boy kisses her goodbye, anyway.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
We met at the beginning of the school year.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t run about the playground trying to fit into games.\u00a0 He looked around, his bright blue eyes scanning all the children, laughing, fighting, crying or hiding; surviving.\u00a0 The sun was high, the entire school exposed and running like ants outside the tunnels of their slave mill.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Turning back to my quiet place, he was there, right next to me, his big blue eyes staring.
\u201cHello,\u201d he said. \u00a0I said nothing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
He told me his name, but I won\u2019t tell you.\u00a0 He\u2019s my friend now; none wanted him, so I keep him safe, at least on the playground.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cWhy are you always at this swing\u00a0set?\u201d\u00a0he asked. \u201cThere\u00a0are lots of places to play.\u201d \u00a0He reached out his hand; I shied away.\u00a0 It was broad daylight; I needed to stay in the shadows, so he sat down and played in the grass next to me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Once a playground assistant came to him and asked what he was doing. \u00a0\u201cLooking for a four-leaf clover for the girl who won\u2019t tell me her name.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cWhat girl?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cThe girl who can\u2019t come out into the sun because she\u2019s afraid.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
The playground assistant peered into the shadows where I stood and narrowed her eyes at me. \u00a0I became suddenly angry at the intrusion.\u00a0 Adults always come too late and always pretending. The playground assistant shied away.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cYou shouldn\u2019t do that,\u201d he said to me.\u00a0 \u201cPeople don\u2019t understand.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cWhat does that mean, \u2018people don\u2019t understand,\u2019?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
My friend shrugged. \u201cI don\u2019t know, it\u2019s what my mother says when I\u2019m sad that nobody likes me.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cI never told my mother nobody liked me,\u201d I said<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cWhere is your mother now?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cSad.\u201d I said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
My little friend didn\u2019t sympathize.\u00a0 He gave a little shudder, looked about the loud, clamorous playground.\u00a0 The worried-looking playground assistant always glancing our way.
\u201cWould you like to come home with me?\u00a0 You can stay in my room, out of the sun, and play with the toys I have in the closet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cWho would take care of you on the playground if I\u2019m in your room?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cDoes it need looking after?\u00a0 The playground?\u201d\u00a0 he asked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\u201cSure,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cEvery playground needs looking after, where else would adults go to pretend everything is okay?\u201d<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once a playground assistant came to him and asked what he was doing. \u201cLooking for a four-leaf clover for the girl who won\u2019t tell me her name.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,3],"tags":[11,39,17],"class_list":["post-1073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ghost-story","category-short-fiction","tag-amwriting","tag-ghost","tag-ghoststory"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lydiaink.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/The-Scariest-Time-of-Day.png?fit=1536%2C1024&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1073"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2270,"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1073\/revisions\/2270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lydiaink.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}