Conversation with The Darkness

“Hey Dad…”

“Yeah, buddy?”

“How come you don’t call me The Young Darkness anymore?”

“Why?”

“I just want to know why you stopped.”

“Well, [name deleted] gave me a hard time about it.”

“[name deleted] gave you a hard time?”

‘A little bit, yeah.”

“Why?”

“They said it might be bad for you.”

“How would it be bad for me?”

“Well, [name deleted] said that they were afraid that it might plant a seed in your head that it was okay to be that way.”

“A seed? What’s that mean?”

“Uh, y’know . . . that the nickname would make you get all dark and moody and sad and depressed.”

“You mean, [name deleted] is afraid that if you call me that, I might turn out weird?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. That doesn’t make sense.”

(pause)

“I’m pretty weird already.”

“Yeah, I know.”

(pause)

“I kind of liked the nickname.”

“Me too. But [name deleted] asked me to stop.”

(pause)

“It’s okay with me if you keep calling me that. It’s not like I’m going to go crazy or anything, just because of a nickname. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”