Eight Again Next Year

Original Story

Puzzle situation

For twenty years, on the same night every July, two things have happened in the small town: A child who disappeared the year before returns home barefoot, while another eight-year-old boy disappears at the same time. The children who come back are safe and unhurt, but remember nothing of the missing year. They only remember entering a house whose door had been left open and taking a bite of rice from the offering table. Then an old woman inside calls out the full name of a strange boy. This year, a detective follows the clues to that house. When he breaks the door open, one boy is affectionately calling the old woman "Mom," while another eight-year-old has just swallowed the offering rice. The old woman looks at a child's memorial portrait on the altar and speaks the name written beneath it. The lights go out for an instant. In the darkness, a boy sobs, shoves past the detective, and runs barefoot into the street. The detective recognizes him as the child who disappeared last year. Only the other boy remains in the house. He skillfully embraces the old woman and calls her "Mom." Stroking his new face, she says softly: "Next year, pick another eight-year-old for Mom."