A Surprisingly Pleasant Chat with Satan

Note from Author: This story, at least at its heart, is more of a dabble in philosophy tthan actual fiction. Please, tell me what you think it means.

The wind wasn't blowing, and the sun was shining bright, but somehow the air was still cool. It was the middle of May, and it was Alabama. Should have been at least 90 degrees on a good day. The funny thing is, I could hear the bugs chirping, the way they always do in the heat. It was a funny thing, the weather today. It was nice, though. We werent allowed to wear shorts at school, and my backpack weighed a ton. It gets real hot, real easy.And my shortcut home was always through the Cobaker's field. It took half a mile cut out of the walk. They didn't mind it, neither. The one drawback to it was the sun. No trees, just an open, bug infested field, a giant, earthy frying pan. There was always the peach tree, though. They were really soft and sweet this time of year. The oddest thing of the day, however, was a circular table lying in the middle of the field. Even odder was the man sitting at the table. He was slender, good-looking, young. Young except for his eyes, there was something surprisingly old about his eyes. He was leaning lazily in his seat, whistling.
"Take a seat, Drew... and take the backpack off..."
I didn't really need his permission. But I sat down anyway.
He was shuffling a pack of cards.
"Do you like magic?" He looked at me. He wated until I answered him.
"Sure."
"Well, Pick a card..."
I picked one out of his hand. It was a queen of diamonds.
"Put it back in the deck."
I laid on top of the others, and he shuffled them again.
"Was your card a 3 of clubs?
"No."
"Okay so, I'm shit at magic tricks... youtube wasnt much help, anyway..."
"It never is...."
"So how old are you now, Drew?"
"11."
"Uh-huh, you got a girlfriend yet?"
"No."
"Ummm... better get to it quick, then boy...."
"I aint queer, if thats what you think."
I don't know what brought me to say that, but I felt like that's what he thought.
"Course not, Drew... Course not."
He pulled a cigarette from his coat pocket, and wet his lips. He stuck it in the corner of his mouth.
"You got any matches?"
"No."
He shrugged his shoulder's, stuffing his fists into his pocket, digging deep until he conjured up a match. He touched the red tip, and it flickered into a small, orange flame. He sucked his cheeks in as he took his first draw off his cigarette. He leaned back and blew out a puff of smoke.
"W-what your name?"
"Gotta a little stutter dont you?... ," he took the cigarette out of his mouth, " got a lot of 'em, take your pick out of any hat... guess the best is probably Scratch... a local name, I think."
"That's a weird name."
"Doesn't make much sense, either."
We sat and stared at each other for a long time, except when he would blink real slowly as he puffed on his cigarette.
"He looked off into the sun, staring at it like it was an odd little bird inthe sky. He didn't even blink.
"Never really liked Light-bringer, though..."
He hummed low to himself, and i thought he had forgotten I was there.
"You're not gonna leave me yet, are you?"
I had started to stand up, but his eyes made me weak.
He stared off some more.
"Do you like the movie Silence of the Lambs?"
"I've never seen it..."
"I guess you're too young, huh."
"Yeah... I guess."
"There's always this part in the movie that gets to me... this killer, I think he was called, Buffalo Kid, or Wind Johhny, I don't know, but he would kill fat women, put cacoons down their throats... he wanted to be a girl, you see... a girl... but why the fuck would he put a cacoon down their throats... It would have made more sense to put a clam in there..."
"A clam... ok?"
"Yeah... you probably dont know, but they change sexes, they arent both at the same time, but they can change back and forth..."
"That's cool, I guess."
"What would you put in people's throats if you were a murder?"
"I- i don't know..."
"I'd do a penny, I think... they're made for more than their worth..."
"That movie won an academy award, you know... when you get some hairs on your chest you should watch it... it's real good..."
He looked at the sun again.
"Why do you keep looking at that?"
He turned his head to me.
"At what?"
"The sun."
"I don't know... I keep thinking it's God."
"Ummm... why do you think that...."
"It's just... people used to think they, this, was the center of the universe, then they used to think the sun was... they think, now, that they're all that is again... they're back at the center..."
"So why do you keep looking at the sun?"
"Well I can't see anything past it, can I?"
He flicked his cigarette on the ground, and shuffled his cards again.
"Hey, pick another card... I'm gonna see if I got this right this time..."
He looked real eager, his lips spreading like thin wire over his face. I picked one. Queen of Diamonds again.