Lance and the Adventures of His Restless Shadow
One summer day, after a big, delicious lunch, Lance decided to go to the grammar school
playground.
Once he got there, however, he didn’t much feel like playing. The monkey bars were too
hot to climb on, and besides, they scared him: He had once fallen off. He liked to swing,
but there was no one around to push him, and he was too tired to push himself. In fact,
he was so tired that, after sliding down the sliding board and landing in the grass, he
decided not to get up. He just laid there, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
But Lance’s shadow wasn’t tired. Lance’s shadow wanted to run around, to play some more.
He felt like waking up Lance. He wanted to yell, "Come on! That’s it?! We just got here!"
But he couldn’t yell, because he was just a shadow. He couldn’t do anything except what
Lance did. That’s what really frustrated him. Why did Lance have to be so boring? Why
couldn’t he be hyperactive like other children?! Lance’s shadow felt ripped off. He was
missing out on all the fun -- here he was in a playground, with the sun shining, and he had
to just lie there and do nothing! It was all Lance’s fault! Lance that lazy boy! Lazy,
selfish, cowardly boy!
Thinking about this, Lance’s shadow squirmed with rage. He twisted and pulled and yanked.
He threw a tantrum so big that the little black band connecting his feet to Lance’s
suddenly snapped. He fell back away from Lance, tumbled down the hill. When he stood up,
he was dizzy, confused. He didn’t even know what had happened. Then he saw Lance -- way over
there! -- and he realized he was free.
Right away, he started running about, playing. He bounced from one playground ride to another,
making up for lost time. He didn’t care how hot the monkey bars were, and, if he fell off,
he climbed right back on. Then he thought, "This is fun, but not fun enough!" He had to have
more fun!
So he rushed up to a group of children. But when they saw him, they screamed and ran away.
Lance’s shadow decided that he liked this: He liked being scary. For a while, he stormed
around, waving his arms, making people hide, making dogs bark. Then he started ringing
doorbells, throwing rocks through people’s windows. He darted in and out of traffic,
blinding drivers, making them crash.
Lance’s shadow wanted to do everything! Everything that Lance would never do! That wimp!
He always stopped short of having fun. But not Lance’s shadow -- he stopped at nothing!
He wanted to deface public property, trespass. He wanted to vandalize, terrorize, create
disturbances, spread chaos! And as it got later, the sun sunk lower, and Lance’s shadow
got bigger and bigger. He started kicking parked cars down the street like they were
little tin cans. He pulled out a telephone pole and swung it around, trying to swat
airplanes from the sky. It was so much fun to be big, and to be breaking things! He
wanted people to live in fear of him. He wanted to be the biggest, scariest shadow ever!
Suddenly, he noticed something: People weren’t running in terror anymore. He was bigger
than ever, but no one seemed to notice him. Then he realized: He was fading. The sun was
setting. It was getting dark. Lance’s shadow grew very serious. He dropped his telephone
pole and began pacing, wondering about his fate -- what happens to shadows at night?
Where do they go? Are they still there even though no one can see them? Or do they die?
Scientifically, he realized that he shouldn’t even exist independently from Lance. It
doesn’t make sense for a shadow to leave its person. But he did, didn’t he? Or was all
this not really happening?
These deep thoughts made Lance’s shadow feel very lonely. He walked and walked, and faded
more with each step, and it grew darker and colder, until finally, Lance’s shadow found
himself back at the school playground. There was Lance, lazy as ever, still asleep at the
bottom of the sliding board. At least with Lance, Lance’s shadow was never lonely. With
Lance, he never pondered over reality, existence and the impermanence of things. It was
true that Lance disgusted him, but wasn’t Lance also his best friend, his only friend?
Also, Lance’s shadow had to admit that he was happy to see Lance. He had missed Lance.
In fact, he had missed Lance so much that, seeing him now, Lance’s shadow began to cry.
He just couldn’t help it. So, with tears streaming from him, he laid down on the grass
and curled up beside Lance. That’s when Lance woke up. . . .
Lance jumped right up from the grass where he’d been sleeping. It was dark! That meant
dinner, dessert, delicious old-fashioned red birch beer, and after that, his favorite
TV show, Dr. Softness, The Dentist. Excited, Lance ran home. There were so many
things to look forward to!
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