The Boy Who Had The Red Umbrella

There was a boy, about 6 years old, walking down the flooded street. He was wearing a yellow raincoat and black rubber boots. In his right hand, he was holding a big red umbrella. He was merrily waddling down the street, without worrying about getting neither wet nor sick.

There was a man, in his early 20’s, walking the opposite direction of the little kid. He was wearing a brown trench coat, leather shoes, pinstripe pants and a black tie over a white dress shirt. He was holding a black umbrella in his right hand and a suitcase in his left. He noticed the kid walking towards him. He was inexplicably drawn to the kid.

The boy was about to cross the road and he stopped dead in the middle. The man was shocked and he immediately ran towards the boy. He grabbed the kid and dropped the umbrella. A few seconds after, a car rushed by and hit the man’s umbrella and it was mangled to pieces.

“Hey boy, are you crazy?! Why did you stop in the middle of the road? Don’t you know that’s dangerous?” the man blurted out.

“Uhm, because I was looking at that…” the boy pointed to a dead cat in the gutters.

“Well, its dead now and you’ll be like that if you are not careful… That car could have hit you and killed you.”

“Oh! Well thank you, I shall be on my way now. You can let go of me now.” The boy said with a smile.

“Wait, where are you going in this weather anyways? It’s not safe for kids to be outdoors, especially when they are unaccompanied.”

“I’m about to go home. I just went out because I wanted to…”

“Do your parents know about you going out?” the man asked frantically

“Uh yeah they do…” the boy’s eyes were rolling side to side

“Ok, I’ll take you home. Just lead the way. I think I might need to talk to your parents.” the man sighed

“Aw man?! Really? Tch..”

The man held the big red umbrella and grasped the boy by his shoulders. They started walking. A few blocks after, the boy sped up and started to run. He was heading to the playground.

“I thought you were going home? Why are we stopping here?” the man was puzzled

“Because I don’t get to play much and I don’t like playing with a lot of kids.” the boy was up the steel slide already.

“Well, you can do that sometime, when it’s not raining and when I’ve already talked to your mom and dad.”

“Well, I didn’t ask you to come with me. You can just leave my umbrella…” pointing to the bench

The man was shocked at the boy’s response. If it wasn’t for the boy’s fault he wouldn’t have lost his umbrella. He decided to stick with the kid until he gets home safe and sound. He has to, he’s gonna drench in the rain if he’s gonna leave the boy alone. He also can’t take the red umbrella, because he knows he will feel sorry for taking the boy’s umbrella.

“…fine. After that, we’re heading home, yes?”

“Okay!” the boy said sheepishly

The boy was playing on the monkey bars and the guy was wondering where the boy lives. He can’t help but worry about this. There was something mysterious about how the boy responds to him. It’s as if the boy was him.

*i can't remember the continuation of this dream anymore.

magpie tales