Since tomorrow's officially Halloween, I thought it appropriate to talk about nightmare scenerios.
When Number One started high school, she had to head out to the bus about 6:30 a.m. Only a few weeks into the year, that's still dark time. It made her father very nervous. But she didn't want rides to school, and no high-schooler wants their daddy hanging around at the bus stop. So she text messages us when she's on the bus.
One morning last week, I was in the shower when she texted. Bad combination, not being able to check the text, and suffering shower-induced rampant imagination. I started thinking what ifs. What if she's been abducted, and the message isn't the usual one? Every second counts when someone's taken.
Now, most mothers are paranoid and capable of playing the "what if" game, but being a writer takes it to a new level. I carry it out like a scene in a book, and then I start editing it.
So yeah, what if the message wasn't the one she usually sends? What would I do? I'd ask her a question about her schedule that I already knew the answer to. If her response made no sense, then I'd try to call her. If I couldn't reach her, I'd call the school and ask them to contact the bus to make sure she was on it. If not, I'd call the police.
Notice my "what if" scenarios remain firmly in the area of logistics, not of what could be happening to her. That way lies madness.
The editing part came in when I was trying to figure out what text to send, and what kind of response I'd get, and that I'd call the police, no, they'd think I was stupid, I'd need more information first, so I'd have to try to have someone verify her presence at school, or wait for her bus to drop them off, or…wait! The school office has contact with the buses!
And then I proceed with the "story."
This kind of insanity almost always happens in the shower or when I'm driving, when my brain doesn't have other distractions. I think this is a big reason why I don't usually write about kids.
So tell me how crazy I really am! Any of you do this, especially if you're not writers, not moms, or not either?
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