The Shadow That Stayed

There was a tree at the end of the road.

In the morning, its shadow fell across the grass.

By midday, the shadow was smaller.

In the afternoon, it stretched across the road.

Everyone knew this.

The children played in it when the day was hot.

The postman walked through it.

The dog sometimes stopped in it.

Nobody thought about the shadow very much.

One afternoon, a boy was sitting beneath the tree when he noticed something strange.

The shadow was moving.

He watched it.

It moved slowly across the road.

The boy moved with it.

He stepped into the shadow.

Then he stepped out.

Then he stepped back in.

The shadow moved again.

The boy followed.

Soon he was standing in the middle of the road.

He looked back at the tree.

The shadow stretched from the tree to where he was standing.

He wondered how far it would go.

So he followed it.

It went across the road.

Across the footpath.

Across the grass.

It reached the fence.

The boy climbed over.

The shadow reached the other side.

He followed it through the long grass until he came to a little pond.

The shadow stopped at the water.

The boy stopped too.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then a cloud passed over the sun.

The shadow disappeared.

The boy waited.

The pond was still.

The grass was still.

The tree stood at the end of the road.

Then the cloud moved away.

The shadow returned.

But now it was on the other side of the pond.

The boy looked at it.

He laughed.

He had been following the shadow all afternoon.

But the shadow had never been following him.

He walked home.

The next morning, he passed the tree on his way to school.

Its shadow lay quietly on the grass.

The boy stopped.

He looked at it for a moment.

Then he went on.

By the time he reached the corner, the shadow had moved.

He did not turn around.

But he knew where it was.