Jan 3, 2012

Blog Chain: Welcome to the Home of the Dimwits

I'm the head of the household at the Dimwits. I forgot that I to start the new blog chain today!! Ugh.

I hope you enjoyed the holidays. I sure did!

My topic (which is one of my favorite writing exercises):

Imagine the home(s) where you grew up, and start drawing a floor plan. As you draw, memories will surface. Grab onto one of those memories and tell us a story.

At five, my bedroom was in the basement of a 3,500 square foot ranch home. I miss that house. I shared my room with my older brother, Joey. Built in the mid-1970's, the finished basement featured flooring of brown carpet, red faux-brick wallpaper, and a wall covering that resembled corkboard. 

One night, Joey stayed over at a friend's house and I was left to sleep alone in our room. I have never done so before. I was scared shitless.

I knew monsters of all kinds lived throughout the basement, but my brother always kept them at bay with his nasty smelling farts. This particular night was hot and I was burning to death in my red TMNT footy pajamas. I was most afraid the man living behind the corkboard would come and get me.

Deep in the night, I awoke to a noise. A cold sweat oozed across my body and my feet cold not breathe. Suddenly, I realized my eyes were crusted over and I could not open them. I started scraping at them, but it hurt, so I stopped. Then it hit me: the man from behind the corkboard had fused my eyes shut using the broken bits of cork that covered the floor (I knew I should have vacuumed those up!)

I did not scream and I could not cry because of the crust covering my eyes. I pulled the sheet over my head and held my breath as I listened for the man from behind the corkboard. At some point, I fell asleep and woke up to daylight some hours later. My eyes opened like normal, but I felt remnants of the crust around my eyes and on my cheeks.

The very first thing I did was grab the Oreck and vacuum the heck out of the floor where the cork pieces lived. Every time I get a cold or have allergies, I relive my fear of the man from behind the corkboard.


Tomorrow, check out Michelle McLean's blog to see which memory she shares!

13 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh! How terrifying for your little self! But funny for us to read, now :) I'll be on the look out for those cork pieces ...

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  2. How vivid,J!

    The man behind the cork board needs to get his ass kicked. LOL. You could definitely write a slasher!

    And--great to see you back online. If only for a moment. TPR is at 8am this week.

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  3. Great story, and you remember so much about the experience. This will be fun to do, Jon.

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  4. Great story, and you remember so much about the experience. This will be fun to do, Jon.

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  5. Awww, poor little guy in his red footie jammies! Well told story, Jon! Very descriptive.
    My sister had a corkboard wall, too. Mine was covered in Duran Duran posters. :)

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  6. Hah! This is so awesome. What a fun story, Jon.

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  7. Thanks folks! I really love doing this exercise and the stories I find with it.

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  8. Ah! Love that. This will be a great little exercise. Thanks

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  9. I think my little brother had those same pjs! Fun exercise, Jon!

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  10. Aw, great story. My son had his eyes crusted up from a cold a few months ago and he woke up crying out in the most pitiful voice, "Mommy, I can't see!"

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  11. Wow! Even though you were first, I read this one last (go figure). It's the only one I read that was spooky! Well done. :) And thanks for picking such a fun topic.

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  12. I love this story and your description. Your brother's farts keeping monsters at bay cracked me up. Well done!!

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:D