Saturday, June 16, 2007

I have Zombies for children

I think that in the best way possible, kids can be your favorite wind-up toy. All you have to do is just turn the little key in their back, wind 'em up, let 'em go and then just sit back and enjoy the entertainment. I think that this principle works both ways; you can program your kids to be awful little buggers, too, under certain influences. I choose to use my powers for good.
You might have read once or twice about my love for horror movies. I've seen a few in my time. There are a bunch of zombie movies that i find particularly entertaining, mostly because they are actually kinda funny, the Return of the Living Dead series. I don't watch them often, but like most of the horror movies I watch, they stick with me. These movies are filled with slow-moving undead in search for human grey matter. Yep, that's right, brains. It's not just that they are looking for brains, it's that they actually chant the words, "brains! brains!" while they are stalking after their victims.
Now imagine for a moment my two sweet kids, both under the age of three and less than three feet tall. Imagine us out in public somewhere, in a mall, at church, in a restaurant. Picture me telling my daughter quietly, "Go eat your brother's brains." Can you imagine what happens next?
After I wind her up, Big Sis will raise her arms up over her head and run after Little Bubba yelling, "Brains! Brains! I'm going to eat your brains!" My boy will run away from her, giggles pealing out of him in this nervous, high-pitched way. When she catches up to him she will actually grab him by his shoulders, put her face against the back of his head and make a "num num num" sound while she pretends to, ...um, ...well, eat his brains.
Now the best part. It's as if fandom for horror flicks is genetic!
My boy will now turn around and chase Big Sis around yelling "Brains!" until he catches her. It's as if he actually knows that once a zombie eats your brains, you become a zombie too! He's so smart. I'm so proud.
The payoff is looking around the room to see who is watching this all unfold. Some people have actually no idea. Maybe they are just trying not to notice. Others will stare wide-eyed, with half of a smile until they see me smiling. Those are the ones who really enjoy it.
The best part is that the kids are completely enjoying themselves. They are not putting on a show for me at all -- they are just playing with each other in one of the many ways they know how.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I know you posted this a long time ago, but I'm just now reading it (because I just learned of our new lessened internet restrictions at work), and I have to add my part of the zombie story.

The other day I was trying to do some grocery shoppoing with both kids in tow. They were in the shopping cart and before long, they started eating each other's brains. It got a little loud and I was trying to compare prices, so without thinking I said (quite loudly) "nobody is eating anyone's brains". Well, you can imagine the looks I got from the other shoppers, but I have to admit it was quite funny.
Elise