Milo's Last Show: A Parable (Pt. 1)

It was a few weeks ago that I first saw the boy Milo, as I was hurrying to my reporting assignment at the United Confederation of Planets headquarters in New York. He was easily the most pathetic creature I'd ever seen: not older than ten years old, a face rounded by baby-fat, and a cowed posture that hinted at many years of abuse, if not physical than at least verbal. To make matters worse, we was bound literally by a leash, which seemed uncomfortably snug around his neck. Incensed, I marched straight up to the leash-holder, a burly Italian-looking man with a whimsically large handlebar mustache. The two were standing on a busy street corner, both passing out fliers.

"Just what the hell is this all about?" I said. The anger faded from my voice slightly as I noted that the top of my head came up no further than the rough man's chin.

"Wha?" The bushy eyebrows above his watery eyes arched up as best they could--he looked wounded. "What ees what about, eh? You come to our show?" He handed me the flier:

The Amazing Baldini Presents: the Human Puppet!
THRILL as his every move is predicted!
FRET as you realize that you, too, are no less bound!
$25 at the door; $20 if you bring this flier

I crumpled it up and put it in my pocket. "Why do you have him on a leash like this? Are you his father? Look, it's digging into his throat." I looked down at the boy but he turned away.

"Wha? No, no, no, thees ees Milo, we do tha show. He has no family--I take him from the streets. Here, look." He loosened the leash on Milo. "I'm sorry Milo--you should have said something." Milo didn't speak.

"Look--just, forget about it, " I said, and turned to walk away.

"Hey Mister!" shouted the burly man after me. I turned around. "You an' me--we no different from Milo. We are on a leash. We jus' never met the man who hold the leash." Rolling my eyes, I once again turned around and walked away.

"You come see tha show! You'll see!" he shouted. Breaking into a jog, I made my way quickly to UCP headquarters, putting the disturbing scene behind me and readying myself for two hours of mind-numbing bureaucratic double-talk.