Sunday, August 30, 2009

Memory Mondays~Marianne's Many Monsters

Once upon a time there was a little girl. She lived in a little white frame house under the shade of several Mulberry trees. Her eyes were blue and her long brown hair hung to her waist. The Arizona sun had kissed her nose and left a smattering of cute little freckles that her mother loved. She had a dog, and at different times kitties, a bunny, and a chicken of her own. She had a lovely big sister and two nice big brothers...well, they were nice up to a point.

The boys were elated to have a baby sister born after 7 years with no new baby in the family. They did all of the usual big brother things like playing with her, holding her bottles while she drank, helping her learn to crawl and walk, and telling her stories. As the little girl grew older the stories they told were not so nice. She learned that there were monsters in her world! She had seen the Saturday Morning Monster Movies on channel 5.
There were all the usual ghouls to be afraid of such as Dracula, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Wolf Man, and Frankenstein! Her brothers would tell her as she would go off to bed that she had better be careful, "Dracula is out tonight!" She would snuggle into her bed and pull the covers up around her neck as tightly as she could, knowing that this would keep those vampire fangs away. There were many awful dreams of her house in flames and Frankenstein carrying her up stone steps and into the flames. She soon learned that there were other monsters out there As well. Home grown monsters!


There were some creepy guys that hung out only in Arizona and they especially loved to eat little girls. The king of them all was "Scooby Rah!" As her brothers told her, he was all hairy with fangs and long claws. He only came out at night and the only way a little girl could tell he was going to attack was if she heard a low and angry growl. Then she had better say her prayers because that meant he was very near. One night after Mom had helped her say her prayers and tucked her in bed with a sweet kiss the unthinkable happened! From outside of her open window she heard a low and menacing growl. She was petrified with fear! Suddenly a horrid, ugly face appeared all smashed up against her window screen! It was lit up strangely from under the chin and made horrible growls! He was there! Scooby Rah was going to eat her! Mom heard her screams and came running to her rescue. He vanished from sight and it was then that she learned the protective power of mothers! Scooby Rah often plagued her dreams. She would find herself in familiar, happy places only to hear "the growl". She knew in her dream that if she answered him with a growl of her own he would come out of the shadows and attack. The little girl in the dream always growled back...always! Then her feet would be glued to the floor or the ground would tilt 90 degrees and she couldn't get away!


The little girl was very happy in her desert home. Many happy hours were spent playing among the cacti and on the dairy. At night the cousins would all get together to play "Kick the Can" and "Hide and Seek". One of her brothers told her to look up at Stewart Mountain. There were television and radio towers up there and the lights glowed red at night. She was told that those were Scooby Rah's porch lights and he always left them turned on when he was out on the prowl. He was a busy monster because those lights were on every night. They ruined many a game of "Hide and Seek" for her. She learned that there were other creatures to fear besides old Scooby. There was the Cactus Man. A large Saguaro that would come to life and night and kill whoever he came across. You never knew if you were standing right next to him during the daytime which was always a frightening thought when playing outside of the dairy's boundaries on the desert. There was always the "Oogly", a monster of unknown origins who delighted in frightening little girls witless with his strange cries at night!

One night there was a movie on T.V. It was called "The Incredible Clock Man". It was about a clock, a tall one with a big round face, who would come to life at different times and kill whoever was near. The only warning would be the sound of his "Tick Tick Tick" as he approached. To the little girl everything on black and white television of the 1960's was very real. Especially because not long after the movie aired she began hearing "Tick Tick Tick" whenever she was alone in a room! She was terrorized on every side. Would it ever end?

The little girl grew into a woman and had little girls of her own. She never told them of the monsters out there and so they never believed. Their bedtime stories were of princesses and fairies and their dreams were sweet. But in the other bedroom in the house their Mommy would still feel the old fear when the lights went out. Her sheets would be pulled up around her neck and she could never kneel by her bed if the lights were out. She could imagine the hands of "something" under the bed grabbing her leg or the icy fingers of "whatever" running down her spine. Her brothers laugh at her to this day when she tells them her memories and...horror of horrors...she found that her nieces and nephews knew of those awful monsters of Arizona too!
When will it end?!!!

3 comments:

Helen Ellsworth said...

Marianne I decided to check out the blogs before retiring to my bedroom. I must say I wish I had known about all the Monsters in your life. I could have put a stop to them. I don't think big brothers realize just how frightening it is to a little chils or they wouldn't do it. For some reasdon they all delight in scaring their younger siblings. But then if they did stop we wouldn't have these stories to tell for the rest of out lives and have a fun time repeating them. Which only proves we can't win for loosing. Mom

Nancy Face said...

Scooby Rah! Cactus Man! Oogly! Those are all pure genius!

My big brothers and I would terrorize my little brother with wild tales of the Fireplace Monster! :D

Although this post is a teeny bit sad, it's mostly HILARIOUS!

Anonymous said...

Gee Marianne I'm starting to be nervous every time I go to your blog...tales of mice (I'm terrified of them) and monsters (of them, not so much), you have lived in a downright scary world!!
And those brothers...I'm surprised you have any relationship with them at all!! I'm happy to hear that the terror you experienced hasn't been passed on to your children...tales of princesses and happy thoughts are wwaayyyy better. Someone needed to STOP the cycle of abuse...good job YOU!!