“You have a mighty magnificent swing there son”

A voice came from behind a young boy standing in a batting cage. The voice had a thick southern drawl and from the inflection alone it conveyed a smile. “Your daddy teach you that?” the boy turned on his heels to face the direction of the voice. He was met with the sight of a thin man in a loose shirt and trousers with black suspenders. He had a jacket held over his shoulder in his right hand and thick black sunglasses to shelter his eyes from the blazing summer sun.

“No. Officer Williams taught me” the boy replied sheepishly “he's a big tough policeman” the boy said this due to his unease in the situation. He had hoped the mention of his guardian's position would make the man go away. “Well I see you must be scared of nothing to be friends with a big tough policeman” the man crouched down to the boy's height and flashed him a large toothy grin. The sun reflected off of a solid gold tooth the man displayed so proudly and dazed the boy's vision.

“Say son. What's your name? I don't wanna be talking to a stranger now” the man made uncomfortable eye contact with the boy. He felt compelled to answer his question against his better judgement. “Kevin” the man stood up straight and slicked back his thick short grey hair. “Well kevin. I like the way you play ball.” Kevin shifted side to side on his feet not knowing what to say. He had been told by Officer Williams to not talk to strangers and he knew he was breaking the rules. He pondered what trouble he would be in if he told anyone about this strange man on the school baseball field.

He contemplated running and grabbing one of the parents that he knew or finding his coach but something kept him standing right where he was. A compulsion to stay. “Williams won't punish you. He knows me. See we’re old friends. You can talk to me.” This time the voice was colder. More serious. Kevin had felt this feeling before. When his teacher scolded him for fighting with another boy at lunch. The boy took his tater tots. Kevin liked tater tots.

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“Now don't worry boy. I'm not one of those creeps that take kids and do nasty things to em. Your coach though. Watch out for that guy. No i'm just gonna pop by once in a while and make sure you are doing A ok. Understand?” the man twisted his waxed moustache and then smiled brightly exposing his golden grin once more. “I….. I understand” Kevin replied with fear in his voice. He was on the edge of tears but held them in through fear.

“Well hot damn. I'll see you around Kevin Williams” the man turned and walked off into the distance. Kevin started to sweat. He hadn't told the man his last name. He had only mentioned Officer williams. How did this man know that he was Kevin's Guardian? How did he know he had taken his last name? Kevin had never seen this man before and this was a small town. He knew every kid in school and had at least seen their parents. This man wasn't any of them. He fell to the ground and the tears finally came.

The school's coach walked over and opened the door to the batting cage. “You ok Kevin? You fall down?” Kevin couldn't help but look at his coach differently after what the strange man had said. If the man knew his name without being told. Did he know things about his coach that no one else knew? Kevin stood up by himself and brushed off the orange brick dust. “I'm fine. Just swung too hard and fell down.” Kevin thought about telling his coach about the strange man but he felt uneasy around the man now. As if his eyes had been opened to his past behaviours.

As he packed up his bat and helmet into his pack the stranger's words replayed in his mind “I'm just gonna pop by once in a while.” He knew that he would have to face this strange man again. He hoped next time that a parent would be nearby. Or better yet Officer Williams. He hadn't lied about him being a big tough policeman. Kevin didn't know anyone taller or bigger than him. He would send this scary strange man to jail and everything would be ok.

Still Kevin found himself scared at the thought of telling him. The stranger had assured him and Officer Williams were friends and that he knew him. But Kevin was still worried about being scalded for talking to a stranger. He had been told countless times about all the missing children cases that start with them talking to a stranger. Officer Williams and Chief Hardin had made that very clear when they came to the school to talk to kids about stranger danger.