January 19, 2010

Scary House

“Aug. 25, 1968 – at Aunt Ruth’s

An original book titled “Scarey House” with words dictated to Mommy.”

“Ricky captures the mean dragon. He cuts it up and gives it to his Daddy. Now we will all be safe.

The witch does a magic trick and turns the boy into a frog.

The skeleton turns this little boy into a pile of bones.

The snake is going to curl around the little boy.

The bat is going to bite this little boy.

The ghost is going to turn him white.

The buzzard is going to sting him.

The giant eagle is going to make him fly.

The devil is going to butt him.

The swordman is going to cut him up with his sword.

The wild cat is going to bite him and swallow him.

And this ghost is going to turn him white.

This wildcat is going to bite him and swallow him, too.

And this ghost is going to turn him white, too.”

What a strange collection of phobias. Seems little Ricky’s getting harassed by animals, spirits and fictional archetypes at every turn. (...However, note that Ricky was able to deliver the corpse of a captured and vivisected dragon to his Pop, so there’s that. Dragons are such pussies when it comes right down to it.)

Naturally, we are forced to rely upon my mother’s translation of the story. I prefer to think that my original plot was a bit deeper than Mommy has indicated, more delicately expository and rich in psychological nuance.

Note the threatened violence (lots of cutting) and implications of abuse by and to imaginary creatures. This was 1968. If such artwork were seen at a “zero tolerance” public school in 2010, somebody would be getting a visit from Child Protective Services, or worse.

Amazingly, it appears that my biggest (constantly reiterated) fear was being turned white – a bizarre prediction which later did come true!

Dear Mom: Thanks. I sincerely appreciate all the artistic encouragement you gave me as a child… especially in view of the fact that I clearly couldn’t draw for shit! Look at that lousy draftmanship. Really, this kid is a lousy illustrator. No sense of perspective, proportion or the even most rudimentary composition. Hell, I didn’t even spell “scary” correctly.

The Buzzcocks – “Friends of Mine”

Rick at 1:53 am

Comments (2)

2 CommentsÈ

You’re white?

Great post!

Comment by Ivan Ñ January 19, 2010 @ 5:24 am
Dear Ricky,

WOW! Where did you get this? Did your Dad give it to you? I would LOVE a copy! See? See? I always told you that your were a gifted artist, a very creative story-teller. Of course, your future psych nurse mommy completekt missed the psychological content of extreme fear and anxiety. . . Ah, well, it looks like the only “bad” thing that happened is that you turned out white. I’m glad of that, or else your father would have had a LOT of questions.

Love,
Mom

Comment by Mommy Ñ January 20, 2010 @ 10:31 am