No-Slumber Parties

My students were leading a small group workshop activity the other night, and they had decided to use the old sleepover stand-by “Light as a feather, stiff as a board” as an example of teamwork. It was a good idea, in theory, but I found myself thinking about Ouija boards and not falling asleep first and ending up a bra in the freezer victim. I didn’t even know I had deep-seated slumber party baggage. Great. One more thing. Remember sleepovers? You were always excited about the idea of getting a bunch of friends together, eating junk food, watching movies, staying up late and giggling long past lights out. Then, reality sank in and the actuality of the slumber party could never quite match the fantasy. I remember spending at least part of every sleepover wishing that I could go home without risking social censure. Especially when the scary stuff started. You know, scary stuff like “Bloody Mary” in the mirror and some combination of terrifying ghost stories. I never liked that part. And it always seemed like somebody wouldn’t be satisfied until the last teenager found the last bloody hook and the last severed head fell off the last unribboned neck. Truly creepy and not much fun. In Disney’s Pixar Toy Story Storybook Collection, the story “Toys That Go Bump In The Night” tells about what the gang does while Andy is gone for the night. And ghost stories are on the agenda. Why does it always happen that way?

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