Friday, May 27, 2011

Top Hat

A top hat.

Brendan could have sworn he had seen a top hat moving through the thick of the green trees to his right. He moved along the trail that he frequented on his daily run, through the massive park in the middle of the busy city.

And as he looked to his side, through the layered backdrop of oaks, elms, and pines, he caught sight of a black top hat moving parallel to him. Just a top hat. He could see no one wearing it. It simply seemed to float along, moving beside him and moving in on him.

He slowed to catch a better look and saw that it was moving right toward him through the greenery. Just before cresting the edge of the tree line where the worn path ran; just before he began to back away from the seemingly levitating hat, a face appeared bellow its thick brim.

The smiling face of a curly haired young man greeted him as the figure stepped out of the trees and onto the path. Dressed in a fine, black velvet suit and long, red-lined cloak, the handsome young man tip his head in a friendly nod.

Brendan was taken aback but managed to nod his hello back as the man seemed to float to him and passed, continuing to the other side of the path and towards the treeline to his left. He followed the man's movement with a quizzical look and the man in the somehow impeccably clean suit turned his head back to look at Brendan with a grin and another nod.

He moved back in through the tress and Brendan watched as the figure of the man under the top hat seemed to fade into the foliage, while the black top hat continued to move through the trees and bushes.

Soon the hat was out of sight and Brendan gave his head a shake as he started to jog along the soft dirt path again. Every so often he would look back at where he had been, but no one was there. He turned back to face forward, and he ran into a looming skeleton figure, wearing a black top hat, and a wide, toothy grin.

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