A few years ago, my
youngest son, Royce, came to me and wanted to tell me all about this new show
he found and loved to watch.
I let him tell me about the
adventures of Smith and Regg. That first one was about how Regg hoodwinked an
unsuspecting Smith into helping him with his mission. Regg is something of a
spy. Poor Smith was a very bookish accountant or something like that. They became
quite the spectacular team, a la “Scarecrow and Mrs. King.” Their stories were entertaining
and funny.
As time went on, he
continued telling these tales and added other starring characters in this
universe, The Grand Oracle and his friend LuLu (better known as Lucifer). His description
of LuLu was a very tall, thin guy in a red suit (think three-piece and tailored).
He’s also one of the good guys despite having a considerable temper issue. Namely,
he abhors anyone so much as scaring an innocent child. As such, he is a
terrific babysitter because if anyone even attempts to kidnap the kid, they’re
toast. Kill a kid, and you will spend eternity feeling his wrath.
The Grand Oracle is
probably the best character in the bunch. His usual form is that of a young
man/older teen. But if you question his age or say he’s young, he could display
a temper even LuLu would avoid provoking. Ask his age, and he’ll say “old,
very, very old.” He’ll even tell you he’s older than Earth since he’s lived
through the life span of 16 separate universes. (Or something like that.) He
does have his quirks, but I think the best one is, he gets into his scraps and
adventures because he’s bored. When he’s bored, he pretty much does anything
that comes along to have something to do for a day or two.
Smith, that bookish
accountant, is brilliant and created his own AI and security system, both
personal and his home. He also got married and had a daughter, who later
married and had a daughter. So the story went on for a couple of generations.
Then, of course, there is
the family of dragons that live at Smith’s place. There are four of them: Mom,
Dad, and their son and daughter.
Every story he told me
was elaborate, full of detail, and usually hilarious. I got to where I liked
him telling me what they were up to this time, and he would occasionally mention
that he was looking forward to the next issue being out.
I got busy, and he’d come
to me with his tales of Smith, Regg, The Grand Oracle, LuLu, and their friend
less and less often. I even got to the point of thinking about looking them up to
watch some of these great shows myself. Since Royce likes Japanese-style
cartoons, I figured it was something similar and didn’t think it’d be hard to
find. I just never bothered looking. Mostly because I already knew the stories
thanks to Royce’s colorful storytelling.
Yesterday evening, not
long after I’d returned home (that’s another story), Royce told me he had to
confess. I could not figure out what he wanted to admit, but he told me his
brother’s friend discovered his secret by searching online.
I’m confused. What secret
and what did he find online?
Folks! HE MADE IT ALL UP!
There is no show about Smith, Regg, The Grand Oracle, or LuLu!
Every story. All that detail.
Everything my son created that whole universe!
We have told him he has to
write every story down now.
He is resistant to this.
Not only because he has been spinning these tails for a couple of years but
because he insists he can’t read or write.
He can, but like his dear
mother, he can’t spell. He’s also unsure of the grammar. My daughter, Melinda,
suggested he start recording them.
So our task now is to
convince this creative young man to get his stories on paper so that they can
be published and presented to a larger audience.
But mostly, I’m blown
away. He is my one child who has displayed the least interest in weaving tales,
but he is exceptionally talented at it.
So the universe creating storytelling
bug has struck all my children. We only have to convince Royce that he is imaginative
and talented too.
We can also thank him for
this post.
Due to yesterday being
our 31st anniversary, my mind had been on what I would be doing to
celebrate. What did I end up doing? Visiting my husband in the hospital. That’s
where I had come home from when Royce dropped this bombshell on me.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Smile. Make the day a
brighter day.
