This one is a bit hard to describe. You will honestly have to read it yourself and see.
Please read the caption first as I don't want to spoil it with the rest of my post. Go on!
Made this one last night, and it didn't end up the way I thought it would when I started. I had the picture saved a few days before Halloween of 2018, and I had even gave it a title so I wouldn't forget, since I obviously didn't have time to even throw it into a caption setting. It was called "Who's the boy with my mother?" so I knew what to do with it when I snagged it and brought it into Photoshop.
I liked the photo because it wasn't too girlish in the facial features, and she wasn't wearing much makeup. Just the right touch of androgyny to make a story seem real. For some reason, the title of the caption came to me before I had even written a word. At first I thought, well, I'll make it for one of the Dave's at the Haven, but as you've probably noticed already, it was too dark for me to give out.
The first two paragraphs came easily, and were probably what I'd have written if I had the chance back when I first saw it. Then I started writing the next two paragraphs and I was getting a creepy vibe about the whole situation and story. What had actually happened? Were the parents evil?
And I thought, nah, that's usually for crazy moms and naughty aunts .. a husband and wife wouldn't do that unless there was a really good reason. And if it was an acceptable reason, then it'd be a happy thing that SHE was now a girl and would remember why.
No matter what, I wanted her to think it odd, but then go back to being a total girly girl, getting dressed up and setting the table, etc .. and somehow she'd forget again until the next time she found something that could trigger the same pondering she had earlier in the caption.
Then I was like, well, why aren't they home yet? AHHHH! There is is! And at a perfect time where she doesn't have too much time to dwell on something bad. Or IS it? I left it vague enough for you the readers to fill in the blanks yourself, both in the ending and as to what actually was going on.
So ... dear readers, what do you think about the caption? Did it meet your expectations? Did I lead you along the path enough where you knew where I was going? What do you think happened and is going to happen after the caption ends? I will let you know my thoughts about it in the next few days, but I want to see your comments first, especially since it's a blog exclusive!
Yeah, it doesn't fit the caption too much, but I was NOT going to link to a Nickelback song!
NO WAY! One of the few bands that I HATE with a passion.
Watered down metal lite with incredibly stupid and misogynistic lyrics. I think I'll pass!
Naughty boy transformed into obedient girl....works for me!!!!
ReplyDeletePerhaps he was headed down a bad path and they intervened in a special unique way.....if you want to think about it another way maybe it was judicial intervention to divert him from a life of crime!!!
I liked it.....I'm curious how the question would be raised at supper that night and I'm even more curious what the answer would be....
I like it when a caption leaves an open end like that that I can fill in with my own somewhat twisted imagination!!!
Love
Kaaren
Glad that I was able to tickle your imagination into gear.
DeleteFor me, it was one of those captions, as I mentioned above, that sort of got away from me, and I just let it go where it needed to go.
BTW, I replied to your email from the other day.
Okay, I gave this some thought - which was fun, because you've set up such a great scenario. I think he asks the question at dinner, and mom and dad decide it's time for an honest conversation. That's when they bring out the other photo album, the one with the newspaper clippings, police reports, and hospital bills.
ReplyDeleteAnd here's the twist. It turns out they had twin boys, one of whom was a remorseless bully. The reason only one boy was in those photos is that the other was usually in bed, at the hospital, or hiding at a friend's house.
The last straw came when the bully beat his brother so badly, the doctors weren't sure whether he'd pull through. The bully got sent away, and his brother had something of a mental break, deciding he needed to become a girl, because even bullies know not to hit girls.
It was his only escape, the only way he could cope with the fear. Even with the bully locked up, living as a boy would have meant living in terror that every time his bedroom door opened, it would be his brother there, ready to finish the job.
Gawd, I'm dark this morning. LOL
Wow! Very intricately thought out, and if true, that dinner conversation is certainly going to be intense!
DeleteMy thoughts when writing this went dark, but not quite that psychologically dark! Quite a few implications there in your explanation!