Page 45 of Glimmer in the Darkness

“And I got graham crackers and chocolate so we can have s’mores.”

“What’s that?”

His eyebrows lifted and disappeared behind the mask. “Don’t be silly. It’s your favorite.” His lips parted, and she thought he was smiling behind his mask. “You’re in for a treat. But first, I brought you another surprise.” He turned his back to her, opened the sack, then spun with a flourish. “Ta-da!” He presented a McDonald’s Happy Meal sack.

She loved McDonald’s. She tried to pretend she didn’t care, but she feared she’d let a smile slip through.

“Cheeseburger and French fries,” he said. “Your favorite. And I even brought you a Coke. Remember that time I took a sip from Mommy’s Coke, and she got so mad that she tried to throw a plate at me, but it slipped out of her hand and landed on her foot?” He cackled as if he’d told a joke, but that wasn’t funny at all.

He handed her the Happy Meal bag, opened her Coke, took out another bag, and plopped down beside her. He lifted his mask above his lips and ate.

The meal was warm and salty and perfect. But as soon as she finished, it turned thick and icky in her stomach, and she felt guilty, like she’d stolen a quarter from Daddy’s bedside table. Like, by enjoying what the man had given her, she’d done something very, very wrong.

“Ready for dessert?”

She shook her head, and his smile faded.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m full.”

“Oh, you can eat one tiny little s’more. You used to put away dozens of them. By the time I’m done building the fire, you’ll be hungry enough.” He walked outside, returning a minute later with a handful of sticks and twigs. He arranged most of them on the ground not too far from her, added some leaves, and flicked a lighter.

The leaves caught first, filling the cave with thick smoke, which made her cough.

The man waved it away. He knelt and blew on the tiny flame until a few of the sticks caught on fire.

Even though there was a gap in the cave overhead and most of the smoke found its way out, some didn’t, and it was hot and smelly. This fire wasn’t anything like the pretty, cozy fires Daddy built in their fireplace.

He stood and clapped his hands together once. “Great. Let’s roast marshmallows.” He pulled a bag of them from the paper bag, stuck one on the end of a long stick he’d kept out of the fire, and handed it to her.

She held the stick, unsure what she was supposed to do with it.

“Go ahead!”

“I don’t know what to do.”

His smile faded. “Sure you do.”

She shook her head. He squinted and studied her a moment. “What did that man do to you that you don’t remember how to roast marshmallows?”

She didn’t know what she was supposed to say, so she said nothing.

“That’s okay. I’ll show you.” He stuck a marshmallow on the end of a second stick and held it over the flames. She watched as it turned light brown.

“Whoops. Got ahead of myself.” He took his marshmallow out of the flame and handed her the stick. “Hold that a sec, would you?”

She did, and he went back to the bag and took out of a box of graham crackers and a bar of chocolate. He got both open, put a piece of chocolate on half the cracker, and took the stick back from her. He managed to get the marshmallow on the cracker and pressed the two pieces together with the chocolate, like a sandwich. “Look familiar?”

She shrugged.

“Your turn.” He nodded to the fire. “Go ahead.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Don’t be silly, Maryann. It’s your favorite.”

She wasn’t hungry, but she did sort of want to try roasting the marshmallow. She put it in the flames like he had, but she got it too low.