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(Translated and arranged by Saya)
This happened while I was still at elementary school.
On the way to the school, I used to see a chubby moon-faced man known to us by the nickname of "Uncle Pringles" standing by the side of a road.
Uncle always had a boy with him, called Shinta, who was about 15 years old and appeared to be mentally handicapped.
Uncle would always call out to children walking to school, saying,
"Wouldn't you shake your hands with this boy?"
Most children would get creeped out and simply run away, but I -- small as I was -- took pity on Shinta, and shook hands with him.
"What a good boy!"
Uncle smiled broadly as though it made him really happy, so I felt I did something good to them.
The next day, Uncle and Shinta were waiting at the same place as usual.
"Wouldn't you shake hands with him?"
Just like the day before, I went up to the boy and shook hands with him. But as soon as my hand entwined with his, I felt a sharp pain piercing mine.
Shinta was hiding a drawing pin in his hand.
"He says he can't forgive you no matter what."
Uncle's flat voice reached my ears.
Why? Did they notice in me a sense of superiority hidden behind sympathy?
A lot of thoughts rushed through my mind.
But whatever the reason, they didn't have to do this to me...
I looked at Uncle as if seeking for help, and his face all of a sudden crumbled with remorse.
"I said to Shinta that I wished you were my son instead of him. Shinta, I am soorryy. I am sooo sooo soorryyy."
I ran to school right after that, and told the teachers everything that had happened.
The incident was soon made known to all students by the school announcement. The whole school was on alert for a while, and the teachers even went patrolling in the neighbourhood.
Uncle Pringles never showed up again after that day.
But instead, a rumour began circulating in the school:
"Shinta was trying to shake hands with kids because he wanted to spread his disease to them."
This rumour caused me considerable anxiety for a long time.
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Comments
I hope my reasoning didn't come up as weird haha, but that's what came to my mind when reading the story, this one leaves you with some questions that really makes you think!
It does really make you think!
I remember the rumors of HIV-infected needles hidden in foods which were just (fortunately) an urban legend from the internet. Needles are usually associated to poison/venom.
Currently watching on J-Edge, a four part series called Departures from the same production company that did the Shibuya Series (Amumo). It centers on Mortician's encounters with ghosts.
nevertheless, nice story, Saya! I think the moral of the story is stranger danger?
Oh! Somehow I haven't heard that stranger danger phrase for a long time! I love phrases that rhymeπ⭐
although, i think the silliest example of disease urban legends was that rumor that you could get hiv or hep C from sitting on public toilets. aren't urban legends interesting?
But I agree that this one sounds similar to those Hiv urban legends! Thank you so much for your interesting insight ππ΅⭐
you're welcome! i love discussing stuff like this. it's like how people will use more common monsters to explore fear as well, like how vampires or zombies changed a lot depending on what they were meant to evoke. Did you know, 50s movies like the Pod People, where humans are infiltrated by unseen forces, are largely about the Red Scare and fear of communists "hiding in plain sight" at the time.
I once studied about zombies and what they represent in depth, with an American professor, when I was in Taiwan π✨although I have forgotten most of what I learned. But I do know what you are talking about!✨π
Hopefully the needle did not cause any health damage that will only be diagnosed years down the road.
Or Shinta did not appear again in front of the narrator or his family in future.
I'm thinking of endless possible horror movie plots.
Nice one, Saya-san. Thank you.
- nunu -