by Brianna Popsickle

Created on: April 21, 2009

It happened when I was 8; I was in third grade. I had my friend Rachel over for the weekend. We bundled up in layers of clothes and dragged our toboggans to the apartment hill, a few blocks from my home. It was a favourite spot for neighbourhood kids to toboggan.

Surprisingly, we had the hill to ourselves that sunny Saturday morning. We took turns speeding down the hill and made our way back up again, dragging our toboggans behind us a little slower each time.

Once, as I was nearing the top, I turned to speak to Rachel, but she wasn't behind me. I looked to the bottom of the hill and saw her talking to a man. In the next instant I saw him take her hand and they walked towards the garage. I called her name, but she kept walking, I called again, but they disappeared into the garage.

I'd been taught well not to speak to strangers let alone go anywhere with them. I felt a wave of panic. My first instinct was to look for help but there was no one around and she was already in the garage. I ran, stumbling and rolling half way down the hill, wondering later why it never occurred to me to toboggan down. I pounded on the garage door yelling her name.

The door opened and I saw her standing calmly, eating a chocolate bar. I told her she shouldn't be in there. She said it was OK, he knew her dad. As I reached to grab her hand I heard the garage door shut behind me. I turned to see his face smiling down at me. I swallowed hard and wanted to scream, but was unable to make a sound.

He offered me the other half of the Oh Henry, to this day a chocolate bar I can't eat. He said he closed the door because if other kids came they would want a chocolate bar and he only had one. He told me how he knew Rachel's dad. I looked at her as she happily ate the chocolate bar, and wondered if maybe he was telling the truth, hoping he was telling the truth. Foolishly I began to eat the chocolate.

He said he probably knew my dad too. He asked what his name was and where he worked. Yes, he was sure he knew him, and wondered where we lived. I told him. He started to tell us what pretty girls we were and asked us our ages. He said he bet he could lift Rachel up, and in one quick swoop he did, lifting her high above his head. I wanted to cry but held back the tears as he set her down and reached for me.

The next thing I remember is the door opening and walking outside. He said not to tell anyone because other kids would expect him to give them candy too. We said we wouldn't tell. Rachel seemed unaffected.

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