Ah Friday. We have reached the end of the week and now only have to beware the Ides of March. I always loved that term. Ides of March. And today we have reached it. So beware. And enjoy the language. But now, we need to set the timer and get in our last prompt of the week. Shall we see what this one brings? Excellent. Let’s go.
Not where I was expecting this to go actually…
Friday, March 15th: The beast snarled.
The beast snarled. Luke jumped back. He heard laughter and the beast seemed to sag, all light gone from it. Luke tried to steady his heartrate as his brain caught up with his eyes. The beast wasn’t real.
“It’s great isn’t it,” Steve said as he stepped out from behind the beast. Now that it wasn’t moving and the lights were growing brighter he could tell it wasn’t a natural beast. The hair was synthetic and the teeth, while real enough, gave off the distinct scent of paint.
“Scared the crap out of me,” Luke said.
“Did I really?” Steve asked. He took the comment as high praise and fairly glowed. “I think it is just about ready for the stage.”
“Isn’t the Red Riding Hood Story supposed to be for children?” Luke asked.
“Not really, have you ever read the story? Not the cleaned up on in the kids books, but the darker story? It s not really something I would tell to children,” Steve said.
Luke frowned. “Isn’t the production for children?” he asked.
“Not officially,” Steve said. “I’m sure loads of people will come, especially when they realize we are telling the darker tale.”
“You did advertise the darker tale was the one you are telling?” Luke asked. “Because all I saw was this one.”
Luke pulled the flyer from his pocket and unfolded it, holding it up to Steve.
“Yeah that’s the one,” he said. “We sent it out everywhere.”
Luke looked down at the glossy image of a girl in a red hooded cape walking into a storybook wood while carrying a basket on her arm. There was nothing that made him think it was anything but a kid’s tale.
“Did you tell anyone you were going darker?”
“Of course not,” Steve said. “It would ruin the surprise.”
Luke took a deep breath. “Steve, there are groups of small children coming to see Red Riding Hood.”
“Well she is central to the story.”
“And they are small children. You can’t scare them like that.”
“Kinds love a good scare tale, you remember the ghost stories we used to tell. They were all sorts of gruesome.”
“We were twelve,” Luke reminded him. “Some of the kids that are going to be coming are about four. The local preschool is bringing them in a group. Four year olds don’t want to be scared out of their minds.”
“But, I want to tell the darker tale,” he said. Steve looked crestfallen.
“Maybe you can have two versions,” Luke said. “One suitable for children and one darker that you can have for those who would appreciate a scare and…all the work you put into it.”
“Well maybe…” Steve said.
“After all, you want the audience to appreciate your work,” Luke said thinking how best to convince Steve. “You want them to be talking about how detailed your work was and how creative you were with the story, not talking about how you made children scream and cry and gave them nightmares.”
“I suppose…”
“Think of the reviews,” Luke said. Steve’s eyes cleared and he nodded.
Ten til Midnight 