make-believe

I used to believe…

To stop me disappearing into a field on the way to school my Mum told me once that there was an evil man living there who boiled up little girls and ate them for his tea. For years I was always wary of that area and still feel a bit queasy about walking that field!

I used to believe that the search lights that are frequently used to advertise a business were actually aliens that are skeletons invading the earth, and that the only way that I could hide from them was by sitting under my window. They never caught me! *grin*

I used to believe…

Our mum ate the chocolate tree decorations and told us that Rudolph had eaten them. We were really impressed that he managed it without knocking the tree over!

I used to believe…

when i found christmas presents under my parents bed - my dad assured me that because santa was soo busy each year, that they bought the presents for him, wrapped them up and then on christmas eve santa would come along and put them at the end of my bed for me - this got me through a few more years of believing in santa!!

I used to believe…

When I was six years old, I persuaded my best friend that if you looked at the full moon (this was a night with said moon) a door would open to another world and you'd end up in a world full of monsters.

He ran home, terrified, with his face pointed firmly at the ground and believed it for years. I have no idea why I said this.

I used to believe…

My imaginary friend was called Swacky Boom, who was a sort of elf-like guy usually fond hovering cross-legged at ceiling level in the corner of the room.

He liked his tea stirred a special way, in ever decreasing circles, then in a cross pattern.

Dunno where Swacky is now, but I hope he is still enjoying his cups of tea.

I was Santa for my four-year old's school, but despite my best efforts, he saw trhough the costume (as did his best friend, who came out with "Santa looks just like Alex's Dad...")

He now thinks
- When you wear the costuem, you're not pretending to be Santa, you ARE Santa.

- Becuase the real Snata was too busy to come to the party, but Dad took a day off work, then Dad is better than Santa, who is now some absentee, workaholic father figure... Yes, i turned Santa in to my Dad in a brand new way...

I used to believe…

When i was about 5 the old man that lived behind our terrace of houses dressed up like santa and had all the parents get the kids to look out the window at the same time so we all saw santa run accross the garden. I've never tried to fall asleep as quickly since.

I used to believe…

When mushrooms appeared in our garden my sister and I wanted to pick them but Dad said we mustn't because that's where the fairies lived and they'd be homeless and our family wouldn't benefit from their good magic.
'How is it we never see them?' we asked.
Dad said 'fairies only come out to dance and play and do their good magic late at night when children are fast asleep.
I remember being very dissapointed and sometimes trying to secretly stay awake looking out the window down to the garden - but I was always too tired to stay awake very long, so never saw any fairies.
I loved the mushrooms, and our magic garden. I felt great that we were able to provide so much housing for the fairies.

I used to believe…

One day when we were driving to the airport to pick up our au pair my Dad exclaimed with real worry in his voice 'Oh no I'm running out of petrol, quick Alice do your magic - we need a petrol station right now.'
I said 'Abracadabra please make a petrol station appear.'
Less than a minute later we turned around a bend and there it was - I was amazed
After that Dad often asked me to do my magic when we were running low on fuel. He always injected a degree of urgency into the scenario.

It was great - I remember feeling so incredibly special and useful.

I was about 10 when I realised Dad knew where all the petrol stations were
and was 'engineering my magic.'

I used to believe…

My mum and dad used to ensure me and my brother were well behave by telling us that the 'Daleks' would come and take use away, every now and then our aurn and uncle cma round with their estate care with said daleks in it. It was around 5 years later we discovered that the daleks were just upturned metal dustbins.

I used to believe…

My 3-yr-old brother's friend once told him that the "king alligator" lived in people's walls. There was a little hole in the bathroom wall made from the doorknob (it was near the toilet). So one day we hear him screaming and crying while on the toilet. I ended up spending the next 239482734 of his bathroom trips sitting outside the bathroom door while he cried, telling him there was no such thing as the "king alligator" and that he didn't live in our bathroom wall.

I used to believe…

When I was growing up, all four of us believed our old house haunted by various monsters. My brothers' solution was never to be in the dark, ever. But I, the big sister, was way smarter and more sophisticated. I knew the monsters followed me up the stairs to my room, but I also knew they could only attack me if they could see the whites of my eyes. My solution: Keep the hall, stairs and my room as dark as possible and never, ever, look back! Must have worked, I was never eaten by monsters.

I once heard somewhere that if you looked in the mirror in the dark at midnight and say "bloody mary" 3 times, she would come out of the mirror and kill you. I used to believe it, and when my sister did it once I started crying and ran out of the bathroom.

I once believed that there was an owl living in the fireplace. I became so frightened of it that I refused to go into the room until my dad burned the bricks in the back of the fireplace so the "owl" (that he couldn't even see) was no longer there.

I used to believe…

Every year in the weeks before Christmas my parents would put up a behaviour chart. If I was very good it could be set to 3 more presents or if very bad to no presents with varying levels in between. Every year I was as good as gold. If my parents wanted me to do anything I would on the premise that I could get 3 extra presents on Christmas day. Years later I realised that mum and dad simply put labels on my normal presents saying one extra, two extra etc. Great way to get your kids to behave!

I used to believe…

My cousin who is two years older than me, told me that if you wrapped yourself up in curtains and made a "good" wish it would come true. But if you mad a "bad" wish, you would transported and locked into your attic and attacked by evil monsters. Yeah, she loved me.