Morning/Evening all!
I’ve got a creepy, short story for you today. It’s just under 2000 words, so I will post Part 1 today, and Part 2 tomorrow.
The story was inspired by a dream I had about 6 months ago, just before my children started attending Kindy/Pre-School a few days a week, for the first time ever. The dream was vivid enough and sinister enough to turn me into a worry wart, and even doubt enrolling them in kindy at all. However, I also knew that it was probably just a manifestation of my worst fears, and a natural aspect of relinquishing control as my children gained their own independence.
Anyway, I managed to come to terms with the idea and then the first day of kindy arrived. Well, as I pulled into the kindy parking lot, I saw this house on the edge of the school. It was exactly like the one in my dream/nightmare (and the one in the story)…I could hardly breathe, my feet felt like they were permanently anchored to the spot, and I hesitated for several minutes before I took my darlings into the school.
After I had signed them in, checked security gates, and paced up and down, I sat in my car in the parking lot and watched that house for a looooong time.
That was one of the longest days of my life, but I’m proud that I was able to face my fear and not let it get in the way of my children’s journey toward independence. They were ecstatic when I picked them up later that day, bristling with stories, artwork and new songs.
So, what did I do with that fear-mongering nightmare? I turned it into a short story of course. Enjoy, friends 
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Going to the carnival via http://fanpop.com
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The Family Fête
by B.G. Bowers
By the time Lila arrived at the family fête, picnic blankets, baskets, and swimming towels covered every blade of grass on the green, skin filled every shaded nook and cranny, and the rock pools were a wonderland of brightly coloured swimsuits frolicking about in the water. Excited squeals and terrified screams erupted from the mouths of thrill-seekers, braving the temporary carnival rides, and a run-away voice reverberated from an unseen loud haler.
Lila pulled a face as her mother shook out the tartan blanket and patched it like needlework in between the picnic blankets of several other families. Unlike her mother, who reveled in such occasions, these types of public gatherings turned Lila’s stomach against her, and sent invisible pulses through the muscles in her face. Even as a child, she had found solace in solitude and chaos in large groups of people. But, she wasn’t a child anymore. She was a mother of two who had to acquiesce on the odd occasion by attending these family-friendly gatherings.
“What’s first?” Lila asked her children. “Jumping castle,” replied her daughter. “Ice-cream,” replied her son. “How about jumping castle followed by an ice-cream?” Lila asked hopefully. A resounding no brought Lila’s mother into the conversation. “I’ll take Sophia and you can take Jake,” she said.
Lila stood, drumming her fingers against her leg, and watched her mother walk hand in hand with her daughter toward the jumping castle. “Last chance for the jumping castle,” she said, looking down at Jake. He shook his head and waved his finger in the direction of the musical ice-cream van.
Weaving their way across the blanketed green was like a game of hopscotch and once the green was behind them they wandered through a mini flea market, with stalls ranging from food to clothing to artwork. Lila’s attention moved to the edge of the grounds, to a double storey, colonial-style, weatherboard house. The once-cream paint peeled in strips, like bark from a paperbark tree, and the lawn was under siege from a squadron of wild grass and weeds. A wraparound balcony heaved with teenagers, grinding to the pulsating rhythm of dance music. Lila took comfort in the fact that she still had many years to prepare for Sophia’s coming of age, and her thoughts sweetened as she imagined her daughter jumping up and down on the inflatable castle as opposed to being a teenager on that balcony.
Lila and Jake joined the zigzagging queue in front of the musical ice cream van. Lila couldn’t help but eavesdrop on a group of teenage girls and boys further up the line. The girls giggled every time the ice cream guy turned his back, to pull the soft serve lever, and unabashedly displayed an enviable builders crack. His ‘love’ handles looked neglected and his hair and clothes had the look of someone who had slept in a bush overnight and then been pulled out backwards by the feet. Lila tried to remember if the ice-cream guy from her childhood had always been a disheveled slob, or if this was a twenty first century phenomenon. When she thought about it, the mere survival of a roaming ice-cream guy in the twenty first century was absurd in itself. Here were parents warning their children about stranger danger, yet nobody raised an eyebrow about a strange man driving around their neighbourhoods in a musical van tempting children with cold treats.
Lila’s inner cop eased with each mouthful of Jake’s banana ice cream and, after the tip of the waffle cone disappeared into his mouth, she ruffled his hair and asked, “think you can handle the jumping castle?” Jake nodded eagerly and mother and son ambled away from the musical van, their joined hands swinging to and fro. Lila’s eyes scanned the crowds as they neared the jumping castle, but found no sign of Sophia and Ellen. She gripped Jake’s hand, changed direction and headed for the picnic blankets, hoping that the fist in her stomach was a premature reflex and not the prelude to one of her hunches.
Lila’s hand dropped like a pendulum when she saw Ellen. “Where’s Sophia?” Lila asked Ellen, eyes jumping like a flea from head to head.
“Don’t look so distressed, Lila. She’s probably just playing with another little girl. We’ll find her,” said Ellen.
“You’re so fucking naive, mother,” said Lila.
“Lila!” Ellen gasped. “You always think the worst. Not all of us are acquainted with your sinister world.”
“The world is sinister. You’re just oblivious. Get out of my way, you’re wasting precious time,” Lila said, pushing her mother aside. “Call the police, then retrace every single step and ask people if they’ve seen her. GO!!”
“Where are you going?” Ellen shouted as her daughter sprinted off in the opposite direction.
“I’m following a hunch,” Lila shouted over her shoulder.
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END OF PART 1…stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow
© 2013 B.G. Bowers All Rights Reserved
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