first off, I am beginning to realize that there are people out there who actually earnestly believe that, if kerry is elected, our nation will be at greater risk of terrorist attacks. is there any rational basis for this suspicion? I’m dying to know.
second, I watched “van helsing” the other night, and watching it reawakened some of my fascination with the world of vampires and their mystical backgrounds. wouldn’t it be fun to write a vampire story? I think it wouldn’t be terribly difficult to write a story more credible than the one in “van helsing,” anyway. perhaps the most compelling explanation I’ve heard for dracula’s affliction was that he was actually judas iscariot. he bled to death when he hung himself after selling jesus out for thirty pieces of silver (hence is aversion to silver, crucifixes, and holy water), and God wouldn’t let him die, so he was cursed to roam the earth, feeding on the blood of others to make up for all the blood he lost when he hung from the tree. neat stuff. I don’t recall which movie that was. anyone know?
finally, I promised more squirrel anecdotes:
when I lived in my mother’s house, I stayed in the basement for a while as it was a convenient party-pad. my friends and I would come and go through the cellar door as we pleased. I grew up in a house that always had at least two cats wandering about, and the one of the tom-cats that lived there when I was staying in the basement would often bring me small woodland creatures. it’s a common misconception that cats present their owners with gifts of dead animals; in fact, they are bringing nearly dead animals so that the recipient of the gift will have an opportunity to learn how to kill. it’s the same thing they do for their offspring. anyway, my tom-cat (whose sister, little girl, still lives with me today) would bring animals to me when I was sleeping, often dropping them on my chest and guarding them as he waited for me to wake up, as it would’ve been a shame to go to all the work to bring such a gift only to have it run off as I dozed. I never knew that rabbits could scream, but I’ve heard their screams, and I assure you it was horrifying, especially to wake up to. squirrels make an interesting high-pitched scream when they have a cat’s jaws clamped around their neck, as well. and I woke up to that, one night. I sat up, prompting the squirrel to roll off my chest and onto the floor, where the cat immediately secured him so that I could commence my squirrel-killing lesson. I was hardly in the mood for lessons, though, and spent the next twenty minutes attempting to herd the squirrel back out of the basement through the open cellar door without becoming the victim of the notoriously savage rabies-ridden jaws of the tree-dwelling rodent. I emerged from the episode physically unscathed, though, and only somewhat psychologically troubled. and that’s the end of that squirrel anecdote, but I’ll promise at least one more will come, so be sure to check back soon.