Ten Seconds

By CJ Taylor

Five years into retirement. It was a beautiful sunny day. The perfect day to leave with his wife, children, and grandchildren on a cruise. His wife and daughters were packing in the house, and his older grandchildren sat on the porch engrossed with their phones while he played with his 18-month-old grandson in the front yard. Joey loved the monster game. David would growl and race towards Joey, who would run away squealing, stop, and race back for more. Joey could play this over and over and today was no exception.

“AAARRRR!” David roared, raising his hands in the air.

Joey squealed, running seven feet away before turning and running back for more.

“ARRRRRR!” David roared again.

Squealing, Joey ran ten feet away and then ran back for more.

David roared and Joey ran once again, squealing in delight, but this time he kept running towards the road.

“Joey, stop!” David yelled, but the boy kept running. David ran after him. He heard the rumble of a truck roaring down the road. Behind him, he could hear his daughter screaming her son’s name from the front door. The truck came over the hill. As he ran towards Joey, he instantly remembered…

He was sitting on the park bench that chilly April afternoon. No one was around except for a few mothers pushing strollers, taking advantage of the sunny day. He sighed. He should be at work, but once again he had been handed his walking papers. Nothing seemed to work out for him.

Just once, he thought. Just once he would like something… anything to work out. He was thirty years old and still had nothing to show for it. He started to get up to go do… something but sat back down. Who was he kidding? He had nowhere to go. No one to see. Nothing to do. He was so lost in the depths of self-pity that he didn’t notice the man who had sat down next to him until he spoke.

“You look like a guy who’s down on his luck,” the old man said kindly.

David shrugged as he took in the old man. His face was lined. He wore a crisp black suit and wore a black fedora with a bright red feather in the band. Odd that he had no coat, for there was a sharp chill in the air.

The old man smiled and said, “Let me guess… you lost your job – third time this year… you’re about to be evicted because you can’t pay your rent and your girl just left you for your best friend.”

“Who are you?” David asked suspiciously. “Did she send you?”

“Shelia?” The old man laughed, his dark eyes sparkling. “No, but I know you. You’re drifting. You have nothing. You have no direction in life, but I can change that.”

“You can’t change anything,” David said dejectedly, standing to leave.

“Oh, no? Look into my eyes.”

David sat down as he watched the old man’s dark eyes lighten to brown, to hazel, to green, and then to a dark crimson.

“How did you do that?” he asked. “Who are you?”

The old man smiled again. “You know who I am – deep inside you know. But don’t be afraid. I’m here to change your life.”

David paled. This can’t be happening, he thought.

“Yes, it’s happening,” the old man said.

“No,” David said. “Stay away from me.”

The old man laughed. “No, that’s not what you want. Be quiet, boy, and listen to what I can offer you.”

David listened while the old man talked. He talked about how great he could make David’s life. Success, money, a family – he would want for nothing. When the sun slowly dipped below the trees, he stopped talking. David sat in silence for a moment. 

“And what will this cost me?”

“Only ten seconds of your life.”

“Ten seconds?”