I am still here in Lotus Land. (See the previous post.)
There is a lot to write about but I am too tired. This is the most physical labor I have had in years. It is a very emotional fifteen days also, with a two year old and a five year old.
I will give you more details later but for now, I thought you might like to read a story that Lexi made up and was telling all her pre-school friends, about six months ago, when she was barely five. Apparently, she had all the kids in her class terrified, wailing and crying and they couldn’t sleep at night after she told them this story. This warranted a call from the teacher to Lexi’s mother, Summer. What follows is actually a milder version of the original tale.
“PEGGY WANTS HER GOLDEN LEG,’ by Lexi McStravick, age 5, 4-19-08
“Once upon a time there was a very mean girl named Peggy. And she lived in a haunted house. And, she scares everyone in the Universe.
“Friday nights, Peggy returns to everyone’s house and leaves a golden leg behind the bed. When you wake up in the night, you see the golden leg. And then it turns you into a Peggy Golden Leg Finder.
“Saturday nights, Peggy went to the park and scared all the children again. She picks your eyelashes off, destroys your toys and upsets your bed.
“Then, Peggy returns and the scariest part of her body that she leaves behind, in one girl’s bed, named Lexi, is her head!!”
And, with an ending like that, I am going to hunt down the Lexi in the story and haul her off to bed. She is afraid to sleep by herself, probably because of that mean Peggy, which is why I, her BaBa, go to bed with her so darn early. I stay awake, listen to the clock tick and watch for Peggy With The Golden Leg.
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Oh dear – I’m checking behind the bed tonight for sure.
You know, when kids tell me stories like that (granted I’ve never heard one quite like THAT before!), I often wonder if there might be some truth to it, something they’re seeing or have seen that I don’t see.
I know imagination probably comes into play in most cases, but I don’t think imagination is any less true than the physical world.
And besides that, imagination has to start somewhere.
My brother used to talk about an “orange man” that would harass him in his sleep. I thought maybe it was a Tibetan Buddhist monk.
It wasn’t, though. It was something scary.
I dunno. I’m not scared, though. I kind of want to know what it’d be like to be turned into a Peggy Golden Leg Finder.
In many cultures (Japan especially), supernatural tales are often extremely bizarre and macabre, just like this little story of Peggy.
Lexi was so surprised to see Peggy’s head; but she wasn’t frightened because she knew that BaBa was near by, and because her Mum was called Summer, which means all bright and beautiful. Lexi’s bedroom too was beautiful and pretty, and as soon as she saw Peggy’s head she felt sad for Peggy. The only thing was it made her bed look untidy, so she picked up Peggy’s head and brushed Peggy’s hair, putting it in a pony tail with a little sparkly clip she had just handy. Peggy brightened up then, but didn’t say a word. It was morning now and the sun was beginning to shine; Lexi thought Peggy might like to sit on the window sill and look outside.
The sun was shining and the grass was so green. Birds were singing and although Peggy didn’t want to speak, she felt happier and warm and loved. She remembered how nasty she had been to the other little boys and girls and wanted to change things. She was really tired by then, after all she had been up all night Saturday, and she needed some sleep. She felt it was very peaceful in Lexi’s room. There was a little clock that ticked gently and she liked how quiet it was. Lexi was sat on her bed singing, dressing her dolls. As she listened to Lexi singing, Peggy yawned and fell asleep.
In her dream she dreamt that the sun wrapped a lovely rainbow around her of light; there were little beads of pink, blue, yellow, red, orange and purple all around her. She felt happy; and she was so pleased to be happy and not feel angry any more. She went back to see the children that she had been nasty too. She repaired the broken toys, and gently put back their eyelashes and made their beds tidy. Where ever Peggy went, she left a little rainbow to say she was sorry. When she had been to see everyone, Peggy was tired, but still happy.
While Peggy was sleeping, Lexi had decided to make Peggy some legs made out of gold wrapping paper. She put some pretty stickers on them and some little stars, and they were very beautiful. She tied a ribbon around them and put them by the side of Peggy, for when she woke up.
Then Lexi had to go out with Baba. She made sure Peggy was safe and took her favourite doll with her. As she shut the door, Peggy woke up to find her golden legs, and she was even happier. They were the most beautiful legs she had ever seen. She tried them all on (Peggy needed a lot of legs) and they all fitted just right. As she tried the last leg, Peggy knew that things were going to be okay, and made Lexi a special rainbow and left it under Lexi’s pillow. Then she went home, happier than she had ever been.
When Lexi came back with BaBa, they found the rainbow under Lexi’s pillow. Lexi wasn’t sad that Peggy had gone,but she was sure that she heard “thank you” as the clock ticked gently that night. Baba said the rainbow was so magical and that, when you see a rainbow, you know things are going to be okay again, so Lexi knew Peggy was going to be okay.