If you’re a parent, you know sometimes your kids can make you mad.
Thus, SPIDERFACE was born!
I forget the actual circumstances, so let’s assume my youngest was refusing bed or not letting me go to bed after story time. But it was presented for the exact intention to gross out and deliver a moral message.
Or maybe she just wanted me to kill a spider–something I am against.
I don’t like killing spiders. Even if they are in my home. Maybe especially if they are in my home. Spiders serve a nice function, gobbling up the ‘bad’ bugs. Sure, I dislike hiking into a web in the middle of the woods on a hot summer day. I hate finding cobwebs in the corners of ceilings. I’ve even been bitten by a spider (on several occasions) while I slept. So long as it is not a venomous spider, I’m fine with it.
The story was off the cuff. But I enjoyed it, and the reaction so much, that a week or so later, I made sure to retell it. I might’ve even told it a third time at bed time.
But I was never happy with the written story. It’s not the same without the performance: the facial expression and gestures–and of course the listener’s reaction.
So, if you don’t quite ‘feel’ the story, try to tell it to someone else. Try shocking them with it as you walk the line of whimsy and horror.
WELCOME TO THE JIREVERSE 