And so, there he was, perspiration caressing his back and a migraine slowly developing into a red giant in the interior of his skull. There was still no sign of the carnival.
‘MOM!!’ he yelled for what seemed like the thousandth time.
‘Yes, Dave, I think we’re almost there… Shouldn’t be more than five minutes now…’
‘Ugh. That’s what you said five minutes AGO, mom.’
Adults. He never understood them. He always thought that if hypocrisy should be considered a crime, the adults of the world had to be the first ones to be prosecuted. But then again, he would be one among them in not more than a few years. Dave wished his thoughts could at least wander off to some unknown abyss while his mother made a failing attempt to guide them to the city’s annual carnival. But the dead dry heat of the Canadian summer was taking its toll. Bred in the Middle East, one would have thought that summer in the subtropics would be a cakewalk for Dave… but the lack of humidity and the sudden temperature rise was burning a hole in his head. ‘Damn you, Kristal,’ he silently cursed his five year old sister for engineering the plan. He began kneading his temples as they started throbbing again.
***************************************
After a good 15 miles, the carnival seemed much more inviting than before. Dave managed to lose his family in the first ten minutes of his entry and wandered off into the crowd.
He wasn’t a sucker for these kinds of things. He was the regular football playing, FIFA crazy, GTA-V on a normal day kind of guy. Carnivals with clowns, trapeze performers and tattoo artists weren’t his jam. As he ventured further into the jungle of lights, cotton candy and bizarre stalls, he was suddenly startled by a tap on his shoulder. He whipped around, expecting to see Kristal gobbling on a stick of cotton candy and teasing him, but saw a signboard blinking neon out of the blue. Intrigued, he hopped in the direction of the sign, with a clear head for the first time in hours, but with his heart in his mouth.
‘David Leon Archer. Well well, as heavy the name, so mighty the boy…’ she rasped in a grating voice. Tarot cards lined the tables, charts of astronomical and other origins plastered the walls, bones, feathers and tails served as streamers. A chill ran down Dave’s spine. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all.
‘W…wait… How do you know my name?’ Dave whimpered. ‘The touch and the scent leave a merry mark in the eh…eh…aaiirrrr,’ she sang whilst dancing before seating herself in front of a crystal ball. ‘Are you a… um… a witch?’ he asked, immediately biting his tongue for being so stupid. What if she turned him into a frog?
She suddenly tipped her head backwards and curled her lips into a ghastly shadow of a smile.
‘And this ball shows me
Where you’re soon to be
Amidst the crowd and making merry
When distracted, you’ll be very
The hint of gold attracts you
Alas, you be the fool!
She sets dark death to consume you whole
The lass with the golden smile has fulfilled her goal…’
Her laughter ricocheted off the walls like a bat’s call. Her black cloak fluttered. Dave was at a loss for thoughts. His mind ordered him to run, but his body dragged him towards the crystal ball. She raised her hands as if to welcome him. Then suddenly he overcame his paralysis and fought her off him; scratching, pulling her dark cloak…
***************************************
‘Dave…Dave!… DAVE!!!’
That was the first thing he heard along with the smarting of a fresh slap across his cheek. He slowly opened his eyes to see his mother leaning over him, with her black dress torn at the collar.
‘Mom? Mom are you okay? Am I ..’
‘Dave! Dave, honey, are you alright? Oh Lord. You must have passed out because of the heat. I’m so sorry it’s my fault… I shouldn’t have made you stay out in the sun…’
‘Passed out? So the lady… the golden tooth… the darkness…?’
‘DARKNESS? Have you been watching too much Harry Potter lately, Davie?’ chimed Kristal, clearly amused and smug for being able to take the heat better than her older brother.
‘Shush, Kristal. Don’t trouble your brother now. Poor kid,’ chided her mother.
‘Mom, let’s just get to the carnival and be done with it, please?’ said Dave curtly, a little stung by the dream. Or what was it? A hallucination?
They finally reached the carnival, but this time it was for real. An uneasy feeling built up inside Dave… and then he spotted her. That face, the woman in the cloak – only now she was dressed as a gypsy. She saw him looking at her and grinned.
Her golden tooth glistened in the afternoon sun.
By Mugdha Sunil Polimera
