That Horrible Man

 

Raksha was a pretty seven-year-old. Like all children her age, she loved the sticky sweet and sour candies that the old man got every evening in his push cart.

Raksha lived in a small gated community of about a dozen families. Children spent their evenings in many outdoor games most of which left them tired, dirty and very happy. Those were not the unsafe times like nowadays and parents generally left their children on their own.

The old man with the push cart would shout to the children living on both sides of the road to come out for the coloured, sweet and sour candies.

He always wore shabby vest and even shabbier pyjamas. He had the ugliest nails - dirty and uneven. His teeth were badly stained and like his nails, uneven. He was bald with tufts of unkempt filthy hair above his ears.

On hearing his voice, children with rush out with whatever few coins they had. Considering that his entire clientele were these little children, he was extremely rude to them. But his tone changed every time he talked to pretty Raksha. He would unceremoniously brush aside the rest of the kids to cater to her demand first.

But one day Raksha did not come and that day the Candyman was livid. The other kids told him that she had to go out with her parents to which the Candy man thundered, “How can she? I come here every day to see her. Tell her she has to come to me everyday”

Next day, her friends narrated the scary incident to Raksha. They felt uneasy and told Raksha not to go near the Candyman again. She too got scared and this evening when the Candyman came, she hid behind the hedge and gave her money to Shipra to get her candies.

Again, on not seeing Raksha, Candyman was much angrier. Poor Shipra, she got so scared, she blurted out that she was buying for Raksha, so can he please give her the candies.

On hearing this, his anger knew no bounds. He glared at Shipra, took the money from her and told her to tell Raksha to come out and take the candies herself.

Poor, poor Shipra. Her fear knew no bounds. She went as fast as she could to Raksha, “You have to come, he is very angry and has taken our coins. He is saying he will not give anything till you come.”

A bunch of very scared seven-year-olds accompanied Raksha towards the cart. Candyman’s face broke into a lewd grin. Then he looked at the bunch of kids around her and hissed angrily, “Run away all of you. I don’t want anyone around. I want to talk to her alone. She thought she could hide from me.”

His threatening tone was enough to scare the others and away they ran, leaving little Raksha standing alone in front of this ugly, evil man. He took out the candies from one of the jars and offered them to her. As she extended her hand to take the candy, he immediately caught her delicate, soft, fair hand into his filthy one and started caressing her. Raksha was scared to death and pulled her hand away with all the strength she could muster and ran, as fast as she could. She did not stop till she had reached the safety of her home and shut the door behind her.

Her heart was beating wildly. She rushed to the bathroom to wash the feel of his repugnant hands. But they would just not feel clean. Her friends came to call her but she refused to go out. Shipra gently asked her what had happened but Raksha just would not speak.

She would often get scary dreams of those dirty hands and crooked nails , all over her body and she would get up scared and trembling.

For the next few days, she did not go out to play. As the days passed, her fear subsided a little. Even the Candy man did not ask any child about her and had not been angry with any of them.

Raksha again started to play in the evening with her friends but did not go to buy the candy. All her friends would go but she did not. She would simply look at the other children buying those tasty treats. Her mouth would water but her fear was greater.

Then one day, she again gave two coins to Shipra to buy candies for her and watched from afar as Shipra walked up to the push cart. This time the Candy man looked at her, took the money from Shipra and refused to give the candies

“Tell her to come & none of you should come with her”, he boomed.

Raksha, who was watching from a distance, froze. This time she decided to confront her fear. She walked up to him and demanded he give the candies for the coins which he had already taken.

He sneered down at the pretty little child and said, “I would, if …. you would let me touch you”

Raksha could not speak and dumbly stared at the ugly man.

“But this time, not your hand, I want to touch you between the legs. I have often seen that your zip is open”

By now, Raksha was trembling. Fear seeped down in every pore of her body.

“Come behind that wall”, he hissed menacingly while pointing to an old broken wall on the other side of the road.

“And do not try to run away this time”.

Saying this, he extended his hand to pull Raksha. At this moment, something snapped inside Raksha and she ran. Other children had sensed that something was wrong and they all ran after her.

She rushed inside the bathroom and looked down. Her zip was in place. She was so embarrassed.

 It is all my fault; I must have been careless. 

Did anyone else see my open zip? 

Was I greedy? 

I will never have his candies again.

Her tears would not stop but she was just too embarrassed to tell anyone.

She stayed away from the playground for many days. Slowly she mustered the courage to go out and play with her friends again. But every time the Candyman came, she would hide. Sensing his evilness, her friends also stayed away. Some boys would go and buy candies for the girls. The candy man would sometimes ask for Raksha but they ignored his questions.

And then, Raksha’s parents decided to shift to a bigger house in a different locality.

 Raksha’s happiness knew no bounds.

In the new society, she walked around without fear and sometimes, she would see other paunchy, semi bald, dirty, raggedly old men and all her fears would come rushing back.