A hot summer day, lush green grass turning into hay.
A sickly child of nine, in a park carpeted with pine.
A little after six, the other kids gone to eat meals their mother's fixed.

He had no worries though, his mother was always home late,
She was probably at a bar or on a date.
A slight breeze blew with warmth that soothed his skin.
While his mother remained half drunk on tonic and gin.

Realization struck, playing alone felt juvenile.
He started towards home, a perpetual mile.

As he treads down the curb, his wariness escalates unperturbed.  
For at home, what he is made to witness, gets him feeling constricted.
He feels bound by a chain.

Formidable lovers or accountable customers.
It made no difference,  for after they were laid, they treated his mother like a maid.
Which to him was the epitome of lame.

As he was walking down the street, he heard the soft thud of feet.
Curious, he turns around.
As he was gawking, he saw an old man walking.
Towards him, the man was bound.

Without a trace of infidelity or a hint at destructivity, the old approached the child.
In light of the age on his face, the old man's perspicacity seemed mild.

A long coat on his back and a cap of grey hair on his head, this is what the old man said.
" My dear son, lets have fun, lets go to my house and play.
It'll be really merry, we'll drink some hot sherry and I'll give you enough candy to last more than a day"

The boy measured this pretension, reasoned with apprehension the thoughts of his mother at bay.

He reasoned she won't care, or if she did she won't dare for her lovers don't give her much say.

So he followed the old man, content to have a friend to play with.
Honestly though, it was the candy that his motives stayed with.

They walked along till they were deep in an unfamiliar part of town.
They come upon a dingy little house, which he could have sworn was raided by a hound.

"Please leave your shoes out the door,
Or else you might soil the floor"
Said the old man without a hint of zeal.
The boy pulled of his shoes,
Then the socks came loose.
The candy holding its enchanting appeal.

As the boy walked in straight,
He saw the old man slide the lock into place and smile.
The boy shuddered, his feet cold on the linoleum tile.
The old man sighed, "Common my son, lets have some fun, I'm your neighbourhood friendly *******. "