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7/9/06 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
minervasoloCall this part one, but it's likely not to get a part two. Mostly because I'm hungry, and there's not enough to grip me here. You can see where it's going, and there's only a limited number of ways to subvert it. The first few lines just wouldn't leave me alone.
We used to play horror films, when we went On Holidays. On Holidays always took place at our Great Uncle's. Other holidays happened, of course, but Holidays only happened at our Great Uncle's.
I don't know his name. I suppose I never did. We must have all been quite young, and I wasby far the youngest of the lot.
There was seven of us, all told. Sarah and Emily, aunty Mary's kids; Thomas, Jane and Benjamin, aunty Gertrude's kids; my big brother James, and me. It went Sarah then Thomas then Emily and James then Jane then Emily then Bejamin then me. Emily and James shared a birthday, a summer holiday birthday. A Holidays birthday.
Anyway, we would play horror films. I think it was Thomas's idea first, but I'm not sure. They'd all been playing it since before I was born. The thing about Great Uncle's house, aside from the fact that it was large enough for us all not to have to share any more that we did at home (Sarah and Emily, Thomas and Benjamin, but me, Jane and James all got our own), was the sheer volume of portraits it possessed. Now, it took me years to realise they weren't all ancestors, but I suspect a fair few were.
Most of the paintings were in real need of a clean, so about all you could see were the lighter parts of the faces and the outline of the clothes. Almost none of them were smiling. A few were dressed up as Gods and Goddesses. Some were lucky if there eyes were still visible.
Horror Films used to take different forms. Sometimes we'd each pick a portrait, and pretend to be that person. All our male ancestors were usually action heroes of mass murderers, and all our females ancestors were princesses or mass murderers. Emily had just done Lizzie Borden at school, I remember. More often, we'd pick a portrait, and then fight over who got to be that ancestor, who would come back as a ghost or zombie or vampire or something to kill us all. Every now and then, we'd do Great Uncle goes crazy and tries to kill us all. But only when he was out.
I remember when my favourite ancestor was picked to be the murderer. Remember, I was by far the younger, and Thomas was only twelve (he stopped playing with us when he turned thirteen, and stopped coming altogether when he was fourteen). The portrait was of a teenaged girl, dressed like a shepherdess with a tiara on her fourhead. I suppose she was trying to look like Marie Antoinette now, though I can't think of a time when that wouldn't have been a bit risky. Anyway, I had a party dress I used to take with me, just to look like her. I looked nothing like her, but that was hardly the point. Never mind the fact I had short brown hair, rather than long flowing golden ringlets, and was barely over four foot, instead of a lithe five foot many.
...
We used to play horror films, when we went On Holidays. On Holidays always took place at our Great Uncle's. Other holidays happened, of course, but Holidays only happened at our Great Uncle's.
I don't know his name. I suppose I never did. We must have all been quite young, and I wasby far the youngest of the lot.
There was seven of us, all told. Sarah and Emily, aunty Mary's kids; Thomas, Jane and Benjamin, aunty Gertrude's kids; my big brother James, and me. It went Sarah then Thomas then Emily and James then Jane then Emily then Bejamin then me. Emily and James shared a birthday, a summer holiday birthday. A Holidays birthday.
Anyway, we would play horror films. I think it was Thomas's idea first, but I'm not sure. They'd all been playing it since before I was born. The thing about Great Uncle's house, aside from the fact that it was large enough for us all not to have to share any more that we did at home (Sarah and Emily, Thomas and Benjamin, but me, Jane and James all got our own), was the sheer volume of portraits it possessed. Now, it took me years to realise they weren't all ancestors, but I suspect a fair few were.
Most of the paintings were in real need of a clean, so about all you could see were the lighter parts of the faces and the outline of the clothes. Almost none of them were smiling. A few were dressed up as Gods and Goddesses. Some were lucky if there eyes were still visible.
Horror Films used to take different forms. Sometimes we'd each pick a portrait, and pretend to be that person. All our male ancestors were usually action heroes of mass murderers, and all our females ancestors were princesses or mass murderers. Emily had just done Lizzie Borden at school, I remember. More often, we'd pick a portrait, and then fight over who got to be that ancestor, who would come back as a ghost or zombie or vampire or something to kill us all. Every now and then, we'd do Great Uncle goes crazy and tries to kill us all. But only when he was out.
I remember when my favourite ancestor was picked to be the murderer. Remember, I was by far the younger, and Thomas was only twelve (he stopped playing with us when he turned thirteen, and stopped coming altogether when he was fourteen). The portrait was of a teenaged girl, dressed like a shepherdess with a tiara on her fourhead. I suppose she was trying to look like Marie Antoinette now, though I can't think of a time when that wouldn't have been a bit risky. Anyway, I had a party dress I used to take with me, just to look like her. I looked nothing like her, but that was hardly the point. Never mind the fact I had short brown hair, rather than long flowing golden ringlets, and was barely over four foot, instead of a lithe five foot many.
...
