I used to consider myself a relatively fearless person. I liked scary movies, or at least what passed for scary when I was a kid. Looking back at those movies now makes me laugh at how really bad and obvious the special effects were.
But for the past few years, I just haven’t had the nerves of steel of my youth. I remember one morning I was alone and lazily flipping through the channels looking for something to watch. I landed on a channel that showed a pleasant-looking lady talking to a clergyman. Ah, I thought, this seems like it could be a nice movie. After a couple of minutes the scene shifted, and it was Linda Blair’s crazy face from the exorcist! Ahhhhh!!!! I screamed and couldn’t get away from the channel fast enough! I had to sleep with the lights on that night!
Sometimes I think there’s safety in numbers, and if I watch a scary movie with someone else, I’ll be safe. Now that might work in theory, but not necessarily in practice. I had wanted to see the movie “Scary Movie” but missed it in the theatre. It was on TV one night and I really wanted to watch it. However, Brie was sleeping on the couch. As long as she was in the room it counted, right? So I turned it on and settled in my recliner to watch it with my cat Sam on my lap for added reassurance. I prided myself on how well I was doing. Then suddenly Sam jumped on the back of the chair and alertly looked toward the kitchen, which was ensconced in darkness. “What is it Sam?” With his ears pricked forward, Sam peered around the doorway and then jumped down and went into the kitchen. Nervously I went back to watching the movie, because at least I still had Brie. I saw the killer in the movie lurking around the corner with his knife, waiting for his next victim. As the killer raised his knife as the hapless victim was rounding the corner, all of a sudden something landed with a thud on the top of my chair. Screaming, the remote went flying and I jumped out of the chair before the killer could get me…um, it was just Sam back from the kitchen…But my nerves were shot and my poor daughter was awakened from her sleep. Needless to say, I turned the TV off.
There was another movie I wanted to watch on TV: Devil’s Advocate with Keanu Reeves, who I loved at that time. But again: any movie with the word devil in it is bound to be scary. However: I liked the cast and figured if I watched it during broad daylight with the curtains open and sunshine streaming in the windows, I’d be safe. I asked Brie to watch it with me but she said she wanted to nap. So again: she was on the couch asleep while I was in my recliner watching this movie. I was doing okay but whenever I thought a scary part was coming up, I’d reach over and wake her up. This got old real quick for her, so after the 5th dirty look, I decided to be a big girl and just watch it. That worked until the dressing room scene where it looked like demons were moving under the skin of one of the women. That was it: the TV went off and I was done!
It isn’t just movies, and it isn’t just me. Sometimes it’s real life occurrences that turn out to be scary, when they shouldn’t be. When we were thankfully moving from 441 to our lovely new abode, we were packing and trying to clean up so we could leave as quickly as possible. Kitty was in her room and Brie was in the living room “helping me”. I was sweeping the floor and Brie was by the wall when suddenly something black and wiggly skittered across the floor. Before I could say, “What’s that?” Brie had pushed me through the front screen door to get outside, effectively ensuring that I fell as she practically climbed over me to reach safety. Realizing that we had to go back inside, at least to save Kitty, I cautiously approached the screen door to peek through to see what monstrous critter had chased us out. It turned out to be one of Kitty’s fuzzy Slideyz toys that had moved from the breeze elicited by the broom! We laughed and laughed as I rubbed my bruised ribs and cracked elbow.
I’m going to close with something that happened just a couple of weeks ago. I listen to the religious station at night, and they were doing a series on the Book of Revelation, or end-time prophecies. I’ve read and known about this all of my life, but I still like to listen because sometimes you hear something you might have missed. So that night they were talking about the anti-christ and the beast. The next morning when I was waking up for work it was another dark, dreary early morning. Brie came into my room to chat for a minute and sat on the bed by Pumpkin. Suddenly, the door to my closet creaked and slowly opened a little. All conversation stopped. “What’s that?” Brie asked. “Um, maybe a breeze from my window.” But my window was only opened a crack and there was no wind. The closet door creaked a little more, which is strange because my door doesn’t creak! “Uh, where are the cats?” I asked. “They were both lying on the bathroom floor when I was in there,” Brie whispered, moving closer to me. I looked at Pumpkin, our guard Chihuahua. “Pumpkin, go see what it is,” I said, putting her on the floor. Pumpkin happily wagged her tail and scampered toward the closet door, and then stopped: her tail stiff as she just stared at the door. By this time Brie was ducking behind me. “Mom, do something!” “What am I supposed to do??” Then the door creaked again and Pumpkin raced back to me. I screamed when I saw something big and black gliding across the floor and lifted my feet to the bed. Brie screamed too and then I realized…it was Victoria, our big Maine Coon cat! She had somehow slid in the door unseen when Brie came into the room. We laughed in shaky relief as I picked Pumpkin back up. “You were going to sacrifice the dog??” Brie said. “Actually,” I replied, “I was going to sacrifice you to give me time to get out!” Thank goodness that bump wasn’t a precursor to the end!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN! J
