On the Way Home

This happened when my older brother was in elementary school. There was a school assembly that evening, and it ran late, so I was walking home with my mother who came to pick me up. (It was an emergency meeting because a classmate had passed away.) Apparently, a friend was with us for part of the way, but they parted ways at the rice paddy. The friend hopped on their bike gallantly and said, "See you tomorrow," so we said goodbye and went our separate ways. But when I looked back, the friend was gone, and only the rice paddy stretched out. I couldn't see their bike's light either, and I was impressed by how fast they must have gotten home... Then, a black shadow popped out from the rice paddy! It was the friend, who had apparently gone off the path and fallen into the paddy with their bike. They weren't hurt and ran off with an embarrassed grin. If it were just this part, it would be a funny story, but that's when I saw it. A white hand reaching out from the rice paddy... It seems they didn't stray from the path because it was dark, but were pulled in by a white hand. It's a rice paddy where lotus flowers are planted, so it's lush in the summer, but it was late autumn, and there was no water, just soil. So, they just got dirty. The friend is still doing well today.