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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

“It” Was on TV

It is 1990.  My hair is huge; my car gets 14 miles to the gallon; and thas a remote control in the shape of the  14 miles to the gallon, and t my neck.  ""nd the dramatic pronouncement of his " his fhe TV, a thick-bodied, multi-dialed contraption, has a remote control in the shape of the three-and-a-half-foot, blue-eyed, blonde-haired child standing in front of it.

The Boy.

His right hand on the channel changer, he turns to me, a look of willful mischief on his face.

I narrow my eyes at him, and he mirrors the expression. 

“What’re you doing?”

“Nothing.”

I narrow my eyes a bit further. 

“Weally!”

“I don’t believe you,” I say.

He smiles.  “I’m gonna too-en the channel.”

“You are not,” I say.

He laughs.  “I am!” he says.  “I’m gonna too-en it.”

“Why?”

He shrugs, suddenly nonchalant in an ice-cream? what-ice-cream? kind of way.  “I dunno.”

I lean forward, pull the TV Guide from the coffee table.   I flip to the day’s page.

“Stephen King's classic novel made for a terrifying mini-series about seven childhood friends whose lives are threatened by a demonic creature known as IT and how they try to put a stop to the killings he commits in routine. Twenty-seven years later, they must face him once again as they discovered that IT was not killed after all.”

I look up.  “You gotta be kidding me.” 

“Othew people ah gonna watch it.”  We are in the precious phase between the start of speech therapy just a week ago and the dramatic pronouncement of his “r”s just two weeks from now.

“Other people, sure,” I say.  “Just not other kindergartners.”

He nods at me emphatically.  “They ah too,” he says.  “Weally.”

“Dylan,” I reason, “Stephen King writes scary books.  This is a scary movie based on his scary book.”

He smiles the smile of a well-loved child.  “I’m gonna too-en it.  I’m gonna do it!”

“Don’t do it,” I say.  “Don’t do it.”

“I’m gonna!”

I shake my head.  “Listen to your mother,” I warn.  “Don’t turn that channel.”

“I’m gonna do it!”

And so now it’s my turn to shrug, which I do.  “As your mother, I’m advising against this.”

He smiles, shrugs again – and turns the channel. 

And it is in that very instant that the hideous face of a grinning, maniacal clown fills the 19” screen, lurid and horrible.    

“AH!”  The Boy jams the off button; and the screen goes black.  He launches his body across the room and onto mine, knocking me back in the rocker.

I hold him tightly as he whispers into the side of my neck.

“What’s that?” I say.

He turns his head slightly, his small, vulnerable forehead pressed to me.  “I said that you wew wight.”

And it seems wrong, but I smile.  


And I hold him tighter.

21 comments:

raydenzel1 said...

write it down, you were right!

Dawn@Lighten Up! said...

Oh, how I love your stories about The Boy.

Al Penwasser said...

'It' was, hands down, one of my favorite Stephen King books. It was a page-turner for all of its 1,000 pages. Until the end when they had to fight a...GD SPIDER????? While being helped by (I hope my memory serves) a frikkin' TURTLE????
I am convinced that Stephen King is a great writer who, after 1,000 pages (when maybe 700 will do) says the hell with it and just ends the thing.
He did that with 'The Dome," too.
Which I read. Another page turner. Until the dumbass ending.
Who knew George Bush was to blame?

Shelly said...

Moms nearly always are. Right, that is. Precious story-

joeh said...

You captured that age perfectly!

jenny_o said...

With your background in watching scary movies, of course you wew wight! I wonder how many of his compadres actually ended up watching it?

Sweet story.

Anonymous said...

You don't hear those words that often in life.....it was right to enjoy the moment.

vanilla said...

Yep. Learning by experience rather than from the wisdom of ones elders. Good mother; glad you wew wight.

Joanne Noragon said...

Darling little story.

Yamini MacLean said...

Hari OM
...am I supposed to be melting into this seat here?..... YAM xx

Pearl said...

He was a lovely boy. :-)

And now he's a lovely man.

Should really write the story about the day he started saying his "r"s...

Leenie said...

Penwasser is right too.

Merlesworld said...

That brings back memories.
I watched that show with some of my daughters friends, they were about 10 or 11 and they were all very cuddly as the show moved on, that was a scary story.
Merle...........

Gigi said...

I loved this one! And, yes, you SHOULD write about the day he started using "r."

River said...

I agree with Al Penwasser, great story, really lame ending. I gave away my copy of the book.
Sometimes learning for yourself is really the only way for a child to see that Mum is right.

Connie said...

Aw, what a wonderful story. You tell them so well.

Anonymous said...

Glad it happened fast enough so the trauma wasn't too extensive!
Clowns. Just. So. Scary.

Catalyst said...

Wonderful! I'm awestruck.

Watson said...

delightful! and I'm looking forward to the "r's" story soon.

Pearl, you write so well. I find myself picturing the story as I read the words, and the images are vibrant. Thank you for sharing your stories with us.
Barbara and Daisy

Linda O'Connell said...

Reminds me of a male cousin who always wanted to go to the show to see scary movies, then covered his eyes and screamed.

Suldog said...

Not only were you right because of his reaction, you were right because that TV movie doesn't hold a candle to the book and he was better off waiting for a read of it :-)