The Black Clad Lad

I stood at the edge of a vast expanse of water one grim afternoon, watching intently as the maroon tinted moon lit the waves that lapped at my feet as they moved up over the beach, and disappeared behind the sand. Oh, fate had one in store for me today, I thought to myself, looking back on what had happened. Perhaps I had been a foolish boy, jumping into something sooner than I had thought!

I was to meet a man at this beach. His name I did not know. Why I was meeting him, I did not know. Curiosity would nip at the corners of my mind intermittently, but I let the feeling pass as soon as it had appeared. I was requested to make an audience with this strange fellow, and what a peculiarly mellow fellow he was! Dressed in black, and adorned with a hat he simply smiled and tipped the rim of his gibus as he strode past me this morning. With a flick of his wrist and a twist of his fist he dropped a paper into my coat pocket, without so much as a sound or a word.

On the paper he had told me to travel this far, out as to travel toward the north star! Curious is this man who gave no introduction, but I followed his instruction and walked toward the star. I passed by towns, cities, and many a village. There would be a moment where a gentleman or lady would stare and question the fair nature of my travel, for I was not one to be traversing in such a reversing manner as to intrude the less privileged parts of the world.

But I paid no mind, for that man I had to find who without reason or rhyme gave me little time to find him. Now, after several days and weeks I stand atop the sand as I await patiently for his arrival.

No longer had I become agitated and infuriated at his absence had he appeared before my eyes, the same black clad lad with his curiously adorned hat. "Now," said he, "I will tell you your fate. It is here that you have been destined to wait. For the hour that you should expire draws near, and you will be taken, but do not fear! I will contact my lord and you shall then see, the time of your death, and when it shall be." And with no more than a tap the odd chap vanished. And so here I sit, still a bit curious as to how I got into this. But I was a patient man, and so I waited. I have waited and waited; and so I continue to wait until the time is right. After all, I am a gentleman.