Lights Out

Also for my sister in case she misses it elsewhere, Lights Out from The Atlantic.

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

The Mary Sue says the people who made Saw will be making Scary Tales to Tell in the Dark, the movie.  Ack!  Eryn and I still talk about the time we read that book and the Harold the Scarecrow story.  She was about five, and the story ends with Harold the Scarecrow skinning one of the two farmers.  It was the first story we read where I realized perhaps I should have read the whole book to myself before sharing.  That will make a damn scary movie.

Invasion of the Bike Weenies

Eryn and I have been reading a couple of David Lubar's Weenie books, collections of scary stories aimed at children. At the end of "Invasion of the Road Weenies", Eryn asked me what I thought a story about "Invasion of the Bicycle Weenies" would be like, based on Lubar's idea that he might build his next book around that story. I told her this short ad hoc tale while sitting on the couch. If Lubar gives me credit, he's free to steal it. I think it came out sounding very close to one of his stories:

Aaron's mother yelled at him as he walked out the kitchen door leading into the garage, "If you're going to ride your bicycle, remember to put on your helmet!"

"Yeah, Mom," Aaron mumbled.

"I mean it!" she yelled at the closing door. "Helmet!"

Aaron stood in the garage looking at his bicycle and thought about what his mother had said. "Wear your helmet. Wear your helmet! Wear YOUR HELMET!" Always with the helmet. Just once he wanted to go for a ride and feel the breeze on his face. The wind in his hair. The helmet always made him so hot and sweaty. He had no doubt he wouldn't sweat a drop if he went helmetless.

Aaron looked back at the closed door. His mother had been washing dishes and when he had seen her, she'd been only halfway done. If he went now, she wouldn't catch him. Aaron tossed his helmet in the corner and hopped on his bike. He took off, leaving the helmet rattling far behind.

"Your helmet!" his mother yelled from the kitchen window. "Your helmet!" He should have known she'd be watching. But Aaron didn't even look back. He'd had his first taste off the wind and he wasn't turning back.

Faster and faster he biked, flying through town and past his gym coach who was just walking out of the grocery store. "Aaron Teasdale! Where is your helmet?" he yelled as Aaron biked on. "You'll crack your skull!"

But Aaron left Coach Bart in the dust. Flying onward, his hair trailing him like a windsock.

He pedaled past the drugstore and Pastor Janet came running out. "Aaron Teasdale, put on your helmet! You'll get hurt!"

Burt Aaron didn't stop. Pastor Janet would just have to pray for him.

Aaron left town, breaking into the open fields and farmland beyond the buildings and cars. He was exultant. Out here it was so flat he could see for miles. He was safe now. A car couldn't hit him. There were no pedestrians to worry about. A helmet would have been pointless.

Something hit Aaron in the head. Something hard. Aaron saw a pebble fall and bounce off his top tube. He rubbed his head. It must have been kicked up by this tire, he thought, and he surged on. But then there was another knock to his head. And another. Aaron slowed, in case his speed was the reason for the bouncing stones. But the small pebbles kept coming, even when he came to a halt.

Aaron looked around for the tosser, but there was no one. He looked up to find the pebbles were falling from the sky, like hail. One rock hit him in the forehead, and another nearly hit him in the eye. Aaron realized the rocks were coming faster and faster, and the stones were getting larger and larger. There was no where to hide. One particularly large rock nearly knocked him out and, as he spun around, dizzy, a fist-sized boulder fell and dented his down tube. As another large rock hit him just over the eye, Aaron wished he'd worn his safety helmet.

Halloween Costume

My sister once posted about the little dead boy who lives at her house. He perished eating a bad potato. I'm going to lift the story and my comment from her blog and post it below so that you have some context around my Halloween costume decision. Lissy Jo, let my nieces know I'll be knocking on the door looking for a treat!


...

As soon as the toddler woke up, she asked with some concern, "How did the easter bunny get into the house?" I didn't know how to answer. Then she told me how he woke her up in the night.

3 yr old, coloring: "He's a little boy and he is soooooo dead."
Me: "He's what?"
her: "He ate a potato and it made him so dead."
me: "um...what?"
her: "When you eat a potato it makes you dead."

Happy easter, you've been warned!

Scooter said...

The bottom article is the most important. If Ame' met a ghost of someone who had died by solanine poisoning, it would have to be a little boy, because he would have had to have ingested an oz of poisoned potato for every 6.25 pounds of body mass. Ask her how big the boy is, and you should have a pretty good idea of whether he could have died by potato by comparing the weight. At 4 or 5, a boy would weigh about 30 pounds, not taking into account historical changes in weight and stature - so about 5 oz. of potatoes would have been sufficent. A medium potato is around 173 grams, which is in the neighborhood of 6-7 ounces, perfect for someone in that age. So...ask Ame'...was the boy about your age/size? If she says a little older, you're still in the ballpark. Nice ghost.

------

Solanine is a glycoalkaloid poison found in species of the nightshade family, such as potatoes. It can occur naturally in any part of the plant, including the leaves, fruit, and tubers. It is very toxic even in small quantities. Solanine has both fungicidal and pesticidal properties, and it is one of the plant's natural defenses.

------

Seventy eight schoolboys became ill after eating potato at lunch on the second day of the autumn term. Seventeen of the boys required admission to hospital. The gastrointestinal, circulatory, neurological and dermatological findings and the results of laboratory investigations were in keeping with solanine poisoning.

------

While death from potato poisoning is rare, eight ounces of a green potato can contain high enough levels of solanine to affect a 50 pound person, and 16 ounces could impact a 100 pound person. Symptoms of glycoalkaloid poisoning include gastrointestinal upset, headache, fever, convulsions, drowsiness, rapid breathing, delirium, and coma. Three to six milligrams of solanine per kilogram of body mass can be fatal.

March 23, 2008 5:43 PM