INTERLUDE
The unusual boy found himself walking down a street brightly-lit by the afternoon sun with little fear at all, surprisingly enough to him. Contrary to what he believed he would feel before he came back, he was actually beginning to find himself feel safe here... well, safer, anyway. This was his home, and it felt really good to him to be able to feel that once again. Maybe... maybe someday he could feel the same way about it after nightfall, when the shadows envelop all, and when evil traveled shadow by shadow everywhere. They'd taken his bravery, they'd taken his soul, and they'd taken his friends. Still, he had to believe that life could get better. It just had to. Nobody could have as much bad luck as he had without getting some good paid back to him. It was a law of the universe.
Absalom made his way to the playground of a public school he recognized. Looking out at the kids playing during recess, it was like looking at a cross-section of the population of La Perdita in miniature. There were a lot of black kids playing games, almost as many Spanish-Indian mixed kids, and a smaller number of white and Oriental kids here and there.
One boy about his own age called out to him to come over and join their game, but by the time he'd finished speaking, Absalom was nowhere to be found.
***
It had been enough for him to see life continuing on as it always had on La Perdita. Maybe he'd come back someday and take that kid up on his offer, but for now he just wanted to wander. Things had changed so much so quickly in just a year-and-a-half, a span of time which was the equivalent of about five years from an adult's perspective. Part of it was the fact that he'd gotten a bit taller, but mostly it was because he'd never really seen the island before like he was seeing it now -- like an ordinary kid. Well, almost ordinary.
The most striking differences he noticed, beyond the simple rebuilding of several buildings damaged in Hurricane Jason in the summer of 2002, were the addition of a brand-new hospital (which seemed to have sustained some damage as it was being worked on by construction crews) and the transformation of the old Dawson apartment building. Whereas it had been a simple 14-story brownstone the last time he'd been there, it was now streamlined and much larger in size, additions to it filling up the formerly abandoned lot next to it. It looked very impressive to Absalom, but it also made him sad for a strange reason. These "Vanguardians" were the present, while he and his friends were the long forgotten past. He wondered if anyone would even recognize him any more, even if he hadn't grown and changed as he had.
Suddenly, a volleyball struck Absalom in the head, knocking him down towards the hard pavement. He heard a young voice shout, "Oops -- sorry!" Absalom rose swiftly, having avoided actually hitting the pavement, and turned to look at a small park close-by where the voice had come from.
A little girl ran up to him and stopped suddenly as she got within six feet of him. Saying nothing but wearing an emotionless expression on her face, she held out her hands as Absalom smiled and tossed the volleyball gently into her palms. The unsmiling little girl turned and ran back onto the field, glancing back once. A slightly older girl who looked like her came running up to Absalom with an apologetic expression on her face.
"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" the older girl said to him as she ran up to him from a greater distance away. "Are you okay? Did you hit your head?" She was a very pretty girl about an inch or two taller than him with curly dark hair pulled back with braids and light brown skin the colour of caramel.
"It's okay, really," Absalom said, more amused than hurt. Faced with such a pretty girl before him, he suddenly found himself to be kind of shy. He couldn't think of anything else to say, so he said, "Uh, I'm A-Absalom."
"Pleased to meet you, Absalom," the girl replied with a smile. "My name's Denyce. Denyce Piper."
END INTERLUDE
