The Maze

What do we fear? When we are confronted with uncertainty as is those whom we fear? Or are we afraid of what we think we are?

"Minnie! Andy! slow down!" the man next to the rusty old pick-up called to the running children. "Dainty, tell them to slow down and not run so fast."

The whispy blonde girl yelled after the two smaller children in such a manner as to make the request sound impossible to achieve. Minnie and Andy waited for their father to catch up, then the group continued on. Reaching the pair of little ones, the older girl straightened up the shawl on Minnie's shoulders, then adjusted her own wide-brimmed sun hat, anticipating it would make her seem older to any observing young man. 

"What shall we see first?" Father asked. The children proceeded with all sorts of different ideas and suggestions. Merry-go-round, ferris wheel, rollercoaster, snacks.

"We'll just have to take it as we come upon it," Father said as he paid for tickets, knowing in these trying times, money was scarce, but he felt since the fair only came around once a year, he could treat them. They slowly followed after all the other families and groups across the grassy field to enter the fairgrounds and enjoy the festivities. Father could only laugh at the wide-eyed freckled faces upon seeing colorful balloons and bright streamers. The very first amusement they came across was the glass house. The children looked at those within the glass walls, milling about whimsically and going in circles. 

"We'll do that first," Father announced. Get it out of the way, if nothing else, he thought, so then they could partake of any rides that may come up next. Seemingly the next amusement down from the glass house would be a whirling rocket ride. Father wondered if they would want to do that. They stood in line to the glass house and upon reaching the front, Father handed over the three tickets. 

"Keep an eye on them, Dainty," Father told her. Dainty heard his instruction. 

The children hurried inside, slowing down once they were confronted with what was all entailed. "Andy! Andy!" Dainty called to the little boy, striving to stop him from circling about in the transparent walls. With the little girl beside her, Dainty suddenly realized Andy had indeed made his way into the house and rounded one too many corners until he was separated from her. 

"Andy!" she yelled in a scolding voice. The little boy looked up at her with big brown eyes, but there was nothing they could do about it. Dainty looked to Father still standing outside and he merely smiled. Nevertheless, Dainty felt she had failed at her responsibilities. With that, Dainty turned to grab hold of Minnie's wrist, only to discover Minnie too had eluded her. 

"Minnie!" Dainty yelled upon seeing the bright blue dress and yellow shawl wander further away from her. Dainty was not having fun anymore and was all but ready to cry. She had not minded the two younger siblings and had not shown adequate supervision. She wanted to leave the glass house and stand beside Father and sulk while they waited for Andy and Minnie to exit, but she couldn't figure out herself how to go about leaving this torture chamber of unhappiness. Didn't help matters any when she looked outside to see Andy had already left and was walking toward Father. He took Andy by the hand and held on to him. Dainty knew all she could do for what she felt was any sort of redemption in Father's eyes was find Minnie, then she was going to get out of this ridiculous excuse for entertainment. She looked around for Minnie and saw her, wandering along the back wall. Minnie seemed upset at her isolated predicament. This gave Dainty some encouragement that if the children had remained with her, then she could protect them. She began creeping along slowly to try to figure out how to at least get close to Minnie in hopes of the little girl hearing her. 

As she pawed along the glass, trying to find an opening, this was when she observed events going on outside in front of the glass house. Other occupants as well had stopped and were watching. Tho sound was muffled from outside, Dainty saw some incredible commotion occurring. People were running about. There seemed to be a fight of some sorts, followed by some screams. That was when Dainty stared at the figures between her and the glass to observe a new dark figure run in and diverge amongst the transparent partitions. Several uniformed men came up behind him with one colliding with a glass wall. The first figure seemed to know how to dodge and weave among the structure with ease, which Dainty found incredible to watch. Near her stood a man and a woman who also watched the new person in their presence. The man continued slipping and sliding among the glass until he seemed safely ensconced within from the formerly charging but now considerably slowed down authoritative figures.

"We'll have to just start breaking the glass," one of the officers said. Another officer held up a pistol. Dainty backed away as if unsure what she might witness. 

"You can't do that," the man within the building yelled. "There are children in here," he said, motioning to Dainty who was the closest. 

"Minnie!" she screamed as loud as she could. "Minnie!" she yelled again. Outside in the front, she saw Father, standing amongst other people, still holding Andy. They had several officers standing between them and the entrance to the amusement that suddenly wasn't a lot of fun. 

Dainty looked around for Minnie and saw the curly-haired moppet circling around her, about three sheets of glass between them. Dainty looked for where the fugitive the police sought might be. The woman accompanied by the protesting man screamed. The culprit was virtually only a sheet of glass between them. The figure was so overwrought, he was saturated in perspiration, which made his dark brown skin glisten in the lights. His eyes bulged with an intensity to maintain his escape at whatever costs. As Dainty watched him breathe heavily as he slowly moved about, she couldn't help but see his expression of determination was virtually the same as the white man who spoke against breaking the glass, having shielded the woman with him from looking at the black man. The officers circled around the glass halls, venturing toward, then away from the black man. He in turn sought to do the same, succeeding actually a tad more than they were doing. 

Dainty watched him draw close to her, then a path and corner would see them grow distanced again. 

A young teen boy with a girl moved about in the setup as well. He and the girl motioned to get away from the fugitive, then there would be a somewhat crashing rattle as they collided with the glass surface without breaking it. 

Another collision followed, this time from an officer. The officer mumbled under his breath, then proceeded to track the wanted man. 

Dainty tried desperately to find an exit. She got so close to the front, but one sheet stood between her and Father. If only she had the strength to break the glass. 

"If we were to break a glass," an officer stated near Dainty, "it would give him the impression to do the same, seeing how it is done, and that could be disastrous." 

"These sheets aren't so easy to break anyway," another office said. "They'll crack without really shattering." 

Dainty tried again to find Minnie. She spied the little girl circling the opposite side, practically at the front. Dainty tried to figure out if she could reach her and began moving about as well. What she hoped would be a clear path to Minnie instead took her further away. She looked again to see about where Minnie was, but she lost sight of the black man. 

"Get me a gun, I'll shoot him," a face in the crowd yelled out. Dainty did not want to be anywhere in here if that started up. She lost sight of Minnie and turned back and forth to find her. The teen boy and girl were about the closest to her, but they had at least two sheets of wall between them. The teen boy looked worried about something. That was when Dainty looked in the opposite direction where he stood and saw the clear, unmistakable visual of a dirty, mud-covered shoe. She looked up to the the denim pants, then shirt of the black man, slowly moving toward her. He looked elsewhere and didn't seem to realize how close she was. Dainty hurried among the walls as fast as she could, watching for the slightest reflection to tell her there was glass there so she could move in the clear direction. She was fearful as she made her way. She looked back one time to see where he might be. He was racing, too, as if he intended to catch her, but she raced on. All she could do was keep moving. Even if she stopped, thinking she was safe, he could still slowly creep along the same path and find her. All the while she was finding absolutely no one else in her path, neither couple nor officer nor Minnie. Not surprisingly, in the process, she ripped her wide-brimmed bonnet from her head, sending it flying. She didn't dare step back to retrieve it. She wasn't sure if he had actually tried to grab it and pulled it from her head. 

"You might as well just give up," an officer snarled at the wanted youth with only a panel of glass between them. 

"I didn't do nothin'," he wailed back, looking horrified. He then raced away to get away from the officer and further among the glass walls. 

"What did he do?" Dainty asked, wanting to know what it possibly could have been that put them all in this predicament. She looked at the man who was still in the glass house with his wife and how he gave Dainty a disapproving look for questioning the law, but she couldn't help it. She wanted to know why she and Minnie were trapped like this. 

Dainty and the other occupants observed a black woman brought forth, pleading with outstretched hands as two officers held her back. 

"Benjamin! Benjamin!" she cried. "Please, don't hurt my boy!" 

Dainty looked around for Benjamin, obviously the black youth in the dwelling. She couldn't see where he was, but then she spied Minnie. Maybe she could get to her. She crept along the glass desperate to get as close to Minnie as possible. She realized then Minnie was not watching her. Dainty turned to where Minnie stared, and there before the little girl stood the black youth, Benjamin, glaring down at her. Dainty was terrified, but Minnie, oddly enough, gave no reaction. Dainty looked on horrified as Benjamin touched the yellow shawl and slowly tugged it from about her shoulders. 

"Don't hurt her!" Dainty said. "She's just a baby!" 

The shawl came off Minnie's shoulders and the little girl stood there, still looking up at Benjamin, actually seemingly relieved to have the garment off her. Dainty pressed her hands to the glass as if that would do something, but there was nothing she could do. Benjamn looked at her, the shawl still clutched in his outstretched hand. He motioned down to Minnie for Dainty to see the little girl trotting along and after making a bit of a circle, Minnie was now outside as well, heading over to Father and Andy. 

Dainty turned back to Benjamin, anticipating he would follow the path, too, but she looked back to see if any officers had noticed how close Minnie was to the exit and she had been standing before Benjamin with no glass partition. No one noticed. Dainty was about to try to call out to someone when she turned back to see Benjamin was gone. She wondered if she would be able to find this exit as easily as Minnie had done. 

The black woman out front continued to cry and plead for Benjamin to be spared. Various locals standing around her showed no sympathy which just made her cry more. One of the officers tugged hard on her arm as if to silence her. 

The young couple made their way out of the glass house not long after Minnie. They exited from the opening on the opposite side. Someone had actually managed to discover there was an emergency door in the back, but no one could find the key until now, but it really didn't improve things any better.  

Flashlights were brought forth to search and explore the domicile, but all the flashlights did was cause bright glares, preventing much of anything or anybody from being detected. One officer thought he was actually close to Benjamin, but if it was him, he totally lost him in the flashlight suddenly being turned on. 

Dainty just continued to make her way around the building until she made it out. Other than Benjamin and a couple of officers, it was only her and the older couple still in the maze. She was growing weary now, just exhausted by the whole thing. She hoped an officer would at least find her and take her out of this. 

It seemed to be a while since anyone last saw Benjamin. Dainty didn't see him anymore as she looked around. The older couple was led out, the frightened woman in tears. Coincidentally, the black woman crying for Benjamin not to be hurt had also been led away. 

"Y'all talk about shooting the glass or breaking it with us in there," the man scolded, causing the woman to cry more. The couple made their way as far as possible from the glass house and the carnival, having had more than enough. 

"Is that everyone?" a fellow holding a gun asked. "Can we shoot the glass out now?"

"No!" Father yelled. "My daughter is still in there!"

"She's right there!" an officer yelled, pointing at Minnie standing beside him. 

"Not her," Father yelled back. "My other daughter!"

No sooner had he said this and everyone turned to the glass partitions again, there emerged Dainty, seemingly give out. Father went to her, making sure he had secure of Minnie and Andy, so they didn't flee again. 

"Was she in there?" another officer asked. "When did she go in?" 

Father led Dainty away from the commotion and the crowd with every intention of departing as the previous couple had done. 

"How long was she in there?" someone yelled. Confusion was mounting. 

"Excuse me, sir," a young officer called approaching them. "When did she go into the glass house? She didn't go in while we were keeping everyone away did she?" 

"Well, if she did that, then you weren't doing a very good job," Father griped back. He then added, "she was in there before the colored kid went in there."

"She was already in there?" the officer asked. 

"Yes," Father answered very sharply. 

There seemed to be more puzzlement, then the young officer asked, "did she have a hat on?"

Dainty looked up at the officer and touched her hair. 

"Yes," Father answered. 

"My sun bonnet," Dainty commented. "I lost it running away from that boy, . . . Benjamin." 

The officer looked back at another officer with some sort of realization. 

"What's going on?" Father asked. 

There was pause, then the young officer instructed, "get your kids home, sir," and he walked away from them. 

Father gave the officer and all the other persons still standing around a distant look, then turned to leave. Andy and Minnie still stood with them as they slowly walked across the dark field, heading toward the pick-up. No one said a word as they neared their vehicle. They all stopped when they saw tucked on the handle of the driver's door was Minnie's shawl. 

"That colored boy took it," Minnie said. "He took my shawl." 

Father looked at the shawl and tugged it off the door handle. He opened the door and looked inside. The truck was empty. Just to be safe. He looked in the back. He gave another pause and reached in the back. 

There was Dainty's wide-brimmed sun bonnet. He took the hat from the back and held it with the shawl. 

"Get in the truck," he told the kids. Dainty slid in first, followed by Andy, then Minnie, with Father getting in behind the wheel. He handed the hat and shawl over to whoever took it, then he closed the door. 

They sat there for a moment and Father cranked the truck. They began pulling out to make their way down the dirt road. 

"I wonder what he did?" Andy asked. 

They had no way of knowing. 

They had slowly trudged along a short distance when Dainty asked, "Daddy?"

"Hmm?"

Dainty gave a pause, then asked, "how did he know this was our truck?"

Father said nothing, but continued driving, then answered, "he must have watched us crossing the road, when we was calling after these two." 

Dainty examined the bonnet as best she could see it in the fading moonlight. 

"I wonder how he got out of the glass house?" she asked quietly. 

They drove on a bit more, then Father answered, "they saw you leave. I saw you and was about to head over to you, but you took off. I thought at first you were frightened."

Dainty stared off into the night then looked back at the bonnet. 

"He wore your bonnet," Father said, "and wrapped the shawl around his waist. He walked so delicately and in the darkness, no one could tell." 

Dainty had been afraid of him, but all he wanted was her hat and Minnie's shawl as a disguise. 

"I lost my hat running from him," Dainty said. She trailed off at the realization he wasn't after her. If he wanted anything, it was her hat. 

"Wasn't very stupid, was he?" Father said with a slight chuckle. 

"No," Dainty answered quietly, staring at the bonnet once more. 

She wanted the boys to see her and maybe perceive her as an older woman. She was seen in her bonnet, but not in any way she imagined.