Last night, Ben had to crawl in bed with me – at nearly seven years old – and snuggle because his imagination was scaring him. Who knows where this is coming from? We don’t watch scary shows or even that much TV. Sometimes on weekends, Ben will watch a car show with his dad. Yesterday, some guys digging around a scrapyard for parts found a rattlesnake in an abandoned car. From there, Ben has this whole plan for a scary movie about snakes falling out of the ceiling…

After dinner yesterday, when he was supposed to be brushing his teeth, he came back into the kitchen all freaked out about snakes and needed me to come to the bathroom with him to reassure him he was safe in there. Up on the shower curtain rod were four pairs of nylons hung up to dry. I can see how those would look like snakes falling from the ceiling.

And so, my artist son, already gifted at metal art, welding, 3-D paper projects, painting, and recently, graphic art on the computer – is now moving into the art of writing screenplays.
His art knows no bounds.

His original cast included me (playing a mother named Abigail), his dad (playing a Karate Master by the name of Nathan), and his Grandpa and Grandma who live next door. When we told him they probably wouldn’t approve of being cast in a Horror Film, he said he was going to just film them wondering around a house. They would never even know they were in a horror film. He would put it in later to look like they were scared and trying to run away. He has it figured out that he can cut and splice and edit the film. He will play the boy who is terrified.

He has decided to keep the cast to just the people in this house, as that will make filming on short notice much easier. Apparently, we are doing this today during Bean’s nap.

Photo of Ben, hard at work.