The Girl Next Door 2009

The neighbors are fighting again. I can hear her screaming. Better turn up the TV. The other neighbor’s been gone for the weekend, while his dogs pant without water and grumble without food. What’s on Animal Planet? The baby next door was outside in his diaper this morning when I went to get the newspaper. I thought I saw his parents. Where is the Smith’s youngest daughter? I haven’t seen her in weeks. She must be at her grandparents. Old lady Jones’ newspapers are piling up. Wonder where her son is? The Smiths’ front door is wide open. Must’ve been the wind. I thought I heard screaming during the night. Damned cats! Wonder what’s going on in the news? Nothing much happening around here.

MISERY

A phone call from far away. “Can you come? She needs help.”
“I tried once, she left. She’s bull-headed.”
“She needs you.”
“I’ll be there next week. I have tickets to Larry, the Cable Guy.”
“Forget about it, come now.”
(That should have been my first clue.)
“Here’s the new case, you gave me,” I told my supervisor. “I have to go to West Virginia.”
“It’s already assigned to you,” she replied.
(That should have been my second clue.)
After sixteen hours, I arrive.
“Do you want to take her with you or shall we put her in a nursing home?”
“I hate to put my mother in a nursing home, if I’m able to take care of her.”
The judge orders it and my mother is now my new daughter. We load up the car with three ill mannered cats and one ill mannered elder and head south to arrive on Thanksgiving Day. No one comes to dinner, but the house residents.
(Another clue?)
At first it’s not too bad. We take turns fixing her breakfast and lunch and I hurry home to fix dinner. No school, so weekends are hers.
January and back to school. She stands in doorway to office and hums or sings to drive away the Muse.
(A major clue! Remember last time she was here and your grades dropped?)
She comes in from the bathroom. She can’t talk right. Oh My God! She just had a TIA.
“Do you want to take her with you AND guarantee 24 hour care or leave her in a nursing home?”
“I hate to leave my mother in a nursing home, if I can take care of her. I’ll hire somebody.”
My home is filled with Rehab therapists, occupational therapists; nurses; caregivers; cats that defecate on my couch; and an old lady, who doesn’t know who I am most of the time.
Hurry home from work. I’m running behind, but I need to take care of her.
My school work is calling, but she is humming louder.
My pool is turning green, but she needs me.
My housework is behind, but can’t get it done.
I remember a quote from a class I took many years ago. “The rescuer always, always, always becomes the victim.”
She’s calling, she needs food. How did I become a prisoner in my own home?

The Brood

There are times when I wish I had a Brood out doing my biding. I’m too much like Frank to say or do anything really mean, but there are also some people I would love to scare with a little visit from my Brood. I can really relate to all that pent up rage, which Nola experienced. This story reminded me a lot of the cult classic, “Forbidden Planet.” In this story, your fears materialized to come and attack you. Same concept runs through: your suppressed fears or rage can become very dangerous…

The Picture of Dorian Gray

The man sins, the picture becomes distorted! Is this a play on the religious principle of the soul decaying through man's transgressions? Were we only able to see our souls - just as Dorian Gray saw the transformation of his painting, it might be a major deterrant to wrong doing. I think that the painting was a symbol of man's soul in this story.

Psycho

What torments do parents, in particular mothers, inject in their children's hearts and minds? We are led to believe that had Norman Bates had a normal upbringing that he might now have grown up to become a killer, but does the average person factor in Schizophrenia? This brings us to the age old question: Is it nature or nurture that produced this behavior? My thought is that it took the combination of the two to bring us to the classic "shower scene."

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

What if Dr. Jekyll had survived and overcome Mr. Hyde? Whatever happened to good triumphing over evil? Now I ask, what lurks in your shadows?

The dichotomy of man

Do we not all have a dark side? We show our best side to the world but what are we when no one is watching? Does that make us insane or abnormal? I think not! We would all be surprised to see each other "unmasked."

The Hare Lipped cat

Thump, thump. Thump, thump. I feel by my mother's hare lipped cat like the protagonist felt about the one-eyed man. Only problem is that my house doesn't have floorboards.