Screams of Terror

My husband has always been amazed at how I can get totally absorbed in a movie. I've been known to cheer on teams, yell at characters, and bawl so hard that he has threatened to sedate me. I couldn't breathe freely for two weeks after watching The Notebook . Gracious, that movie is a massive tear-jerker. I wanted to see it when it came out but couldn't because I was on strict bed rest, trying to give Violet more time to develop before she was delivered. Good thing too! I have a feeling that movie would have made me go into early labor.

Something that was a big part of mine and Gregg's dating experience was family movie night. Gregg and I would go to the local movie rental place and pick out a few movies to watch for the weekend. Often times, his sister or mother would join us. We would all split up, go in different directions, and pick out a movie. Then, we would meet back up and pick the two best movies out of the whole lot. It was always interesting to see what movies we would wind up with. Horror, love stories, action, comedy, even Disney movies would be rented.

One summer day I went home early because I wasn't feeling too well. Only, when I got home I found that our air conditioner was out. It was nearly 100 degrees outside and the mosquitoes were out in full force. There was no escape from the heat and we couldn't open the windows due to the mosquitoes. So, I called Gregg's Mom and asked if I could crash on their couch for the night and she gracefully said yes. Since it was early in the day, I decided to rent some movies to kill time. I don't know why, but I was in a horror film kind of mood that day. I walked out of the movie rental store with the first three Alien movies. (This was before the fourth movie was made.)

After popping in the first Alien movie I settled in on the couch. I think Alien has to be the best science-fiction horror film out there. Especially considering the first film was made in 1979. I was at the ending of Alien 3 when Gregg's family started to arrive home for the night and they laughed at what they saw on the TV. They remembered my reaction to the movie Arachnophobia (imagine me sitting on the back of the couch, nearly on top of Gregg's shoulders) and you can see why they laughed at my movie choices for the day.

I think I lasted through dinner before I ended up crashing in Gregg's sister's room. They pulled out a little folding chair that turns into a bed for me to sleep on. I never heard D. come into the room for the night. At some point, after D. settled in her bed, her cat (Nermil) joined her. Well, around 3 or 4 in the morning, D. ended up knocking Nermil off the bed and he landed on my feet with his nails out. As you can imagine, that's not the greatest wake up call. Especially after one has watched the first three Alien movies! I sat straight up on my little bed and started screaming as loud as I possibly could. I just KNEW there was an alien trying to eat my feet!!! D. started screaming herself because, well, that's not the kind of wake up call she had been expecting.

Within a matter of seconds, (which felt like an eternity at the time) Gregg comes busting through D's door, while brandishing a baseball bat, and his Mom right behind him with the family's two weimeraners . And poor Nermil, he was doing his best to claw his way out of the room. It took us a few moments to figure out what had happened and for me to realize that there wasn't an alien trying to eat my feet. I don't think D. and I have shared a room since then and I'm amazed that Gregg's family ever allowed me back in their house after that.