Five Shadows

Chapter Sixteen

When I returned to my apartment (Marnie didn't ask to come up, thankfully. She was a hard girl to say 'no' to.) the latest shadow hadn't moved from my kitchen table. "Hello," he said in the softest voice I'd ever heard from a) one of my shadows, or b) a man of his size. If he were solid human he would be one of the largest men I'd ever seen. Horizontally or vertically. Something about him was gentle though. His voice, yes, but his demeanor too was the opposite of threatening. He was safe. Homey.

"Hi," I answered. "I'm Nora." The corner of his mouth twitched, but he just nodded his head in lieu of a smile.

"Pleased to meet you." This was a very formal shadow. Formal with a touch of country twang underscoring his words. "Did you have a nice evening?"

"I did, thank you. Sorry to run out on you like that when you just got here."

"No apologies needed. It's nice to sit in the quiet sometimes." I wondered if it was so very loud where he normally resided. Wherever shadows live.

"I agree."

"And sometimes it's nice to be with friends. It was good to see you out and about."

"Well, Marnie's a little bumptious. In a good way, I think."

Now he did give up a little chuckle. "She's a good girl, though. Marnie is." I nodded. "Have a seat?" A chair across from him was pulled out, waiting for me. Even though it was my apartment it felt right that he would be offering me a seat. He seemed very... patriarchal.

"What's your name?"

"Oh... you know us shadows. Some of us have names, some of us don't." I didn't know that. I knew very little about shadows, in fact. "Some people just call me Pa." Of course they did. Pa felt like a fitting name.

"Pa. Before we get started, I wonder if I might just call my boss and let him know I won't be in tomorrow." I had learned a thing or two about these visits. These shadows were going to eat up all my vacation time, but it seemed rude to point that out. Besides, I had no plans for my vacation days.

Another light chuckle. "Oh, I'll be sure to get out of here in time for you to go to work. No worries."

"Wait. Really? Because every time one of you visits, I skip like a whole day."

He waved a meaty hand like he was slapping a face in slow motion. "Nah. We'll get you to work on time, Nora." Okaaaay. Just when I thought I was starting to understand some shadow rules, they threw me for a dizzying loop.

"Alright. I'll take your word for it, Pa. So, what are we going to talk about? My hopes and dreams? My family life? Poor life choices?" I smiled at him, hoping we wouldn't have to talk about any of those things, in fact.

"It's not always all about you, Nora," he grinned like he was just ribbing me, but I got the feeling it wasn't one hundred percent teasing. "I don't think we'll talk about you at all."

I humphed a little inwardly, chagrined. "Okay, let's talk about you." Maybe this was a shadow that had to get something off his chest.

"Let's talk about Eric. 

"Eric? Okay." A silence. "He's okay, right?"

"Oh, he's good. As good as a boy can be after what he's been through." Ah. This was just a roundabout way to make me talk about my past.

I would not taker the bait. "I agree. He's holding down a job he enjoys, he's super social, everybody loves him... yup! Eric is doing great, if you ask me."

"Are those your measurements of success? No wonder you've been down for a while, Nora." I opened my mouth to reply, but he put a finger up. "But we're not talking about you, are we honey?" He seemed to speak slower than his mouth moved. It gave the effect of a foreign film with a poor dubbing job. And in the word "honey" I remembered my mom's dad, who died five years ago. Of course I hadn't seen him for several years before that. It was too painful. At her funeral he'd pulled me into his massive chest and said, "Oh honey," and his belly shook with emotion. I loved him, but was a little mad to have to cut him a slice of the grief pie too. With every person that got a sliver, my piece became smaller and that wasn't fair because I knew, I knew I was madder, sadder, than any of them.