Tales of Nicky

Monkey bars

I crouched down in front of the screaming child, smiling kindly, "Hey, it's just a suit, don't worry."

The child screamed harder.

I sighed. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted. I pulled off the mask and grinned at him, "See? I'm not a gorilla monster after all." He whimpered slightly but seemed to get the point now. I was used to being good with kids but found myself at a bit of a loss at the moment.

If my record was any indication, his mother, father, aunt, or babysitter would be marching over here in a few minutes and demand to know what I'd done to the kid. At least this time I hadn't taught the entire playground how to dance the macarena. I probably wouldn't be accused of corrupting children again. But seriously, what kind of lady hasn't ever heard of the macarena?

I shook my head at the memory and glanced at the monkey bars. "Hey, kid, do you wanna play a game?"

The kid in question sniffled and nodded slowly.

I grinned, "Awesome. You see those kids over there? Today, all of you get to take down King Kong!"

"King Kong?"

I nodded quickly, putting the gorilla mask back on, "I'm KING KONG and I kidnapped the princess! Somebody needs to stop me from eating her!"

The kid yelped and ran off toward those other children, pointing at me and squealing with excitement.

Kids have to win, that's the unwritten rule and one of the only ones I might only break a few times, but if you act like a high and mighty adult and say obnoxious things like, "You will never take down the gorilla of the monkey bars!" or, "Foolish mortals, bow before me!" then they will remember a victory.

I think I lost it near the end, laughing evilly over the 'fallen corpse' of one of the children, who was giggling and ruining the entire scene, but eventually, adults started to look on with amusement.

I dramatically displayed my own death, monologuing for at least five minutes.

I knew that today I wasn't the village idiot. I could have been a regular person for all they knew, albeit just a bit more quirky and theatrical.