Scared Sitter
As a young kid during the summer time, I lived on the farm with my dad and two sisters. Since summer time is always quite busy for a farmer, my dad hired babysitters to perform housekeeping chores and to keep track of us kids. Through the years we had several babysitters with many interesting experiences; but one particular memory will be etched in my mind forever. Sara, in particular, was a lot of fun and was pretty good at taking jokes. At least that is what I was hoping one morning before she arrived.
Normally, Sara arrived at the farm before I woke up, but this particular morning I took special care to ensure that I woke up a little earlier. The reason being is that I found a green ghoulish looking Halloween mask the night before and I wanted to see if it worked. My sisters were off limits since they had already seen it and, more importantly, I could get in trouble for using it on them. My babysitter, on the other hand, was fair game. Certainly she was older and not the kind to fall for such a silly trick. That is, unless her nerves were a little bit shaken to begin with. It turns out that the timing of this little experiment was more perfect than I could have ever planned. Coincidently, the previous night Sara had watched one of the scariest horror movies of the season. To make matters worse, the mask looked a little like the villain in the movie.
As I saw her car drive up, I carefully positioned myself behind the kitchen door. Of course, she wouldn’t expect anybody to be there at this time in the morning. Especially, not Freddy Krueger! I hunkered down with my mask in place and heard the door handle turn. As soon as her face appeared I jumped out and let out the nastiest, meanest, diabolic roar I could muster. She just stopped and stared at me with wide eyes and an open mouth. I thought that the trick had failed. But then I heard it. It must have been the most fearful, blood-curdling scream I have ever heard in real life. Sure you hear screams at the movies but this one was real and an artificial scream just doesn’t compare to a real one.
At first I had this feeling of deep satisfaction. My trick worked and worked well beyond my expectations. I was expecting a shocked look or even a gasp but a scream is like the holy grail of a practical jokester. But then I had that feeling of dread. You know the sensation you get when you finally understand the grave consequences of your actions. Like releasing a thousand-pound boulder at the top of and then recognizing the parked car directly in the path of the rolling boulder. I was hoping the path could be changed.
I ripped off my mask to show Sara that it was just me and not some axe murderer that she saw in the movie the night before. As I had hoped, Sara was good natured about the whole thing and I believe we both have a memory that we will not soon forget. Neither will the rest of the folks in the county, including my two bleary eyed sisters who were so rudely roused from their restful sleep.