{"id":719,"date":"2019-02-04T09:42:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T15:42:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/johnleifer.com\/?p=719"},"modified":"2019-02-04T09:49:35","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T15:49:35","slug":"the-medusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnleifer.com\/?p=719","title":{"rendered":"The Medusa"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was known in our house as the giggles hour<\/em> \u2013 sixty magical minutes spent sitting in front of the television transfixed by Howdy Doody and a cast of lovable characters. It was a sacred time when nothing distracted me \u2013 not even ice-cream! Nothing, that is, but a shrill, piercing scream that sent shivers down my back.<\/p>\n

I waited\u2026holding my breath and closing my eyes, but it didn\u2019t stop the screams from coming. There it was again! I jumped to my feet, not knowing whether to run or cry. The sound ripped through the silence one last time.\u00a0 It was coming from the garage.<\/p>\n

Heart pounding, I took three tentative steps towards the door that led from the kitchen to the garage\u2026then three more. Each step drew me closer to some unimaginable horror.<\/p>\n

I called out, \u201cMommy!\u201d but there was no response. Then more steps\u2026edging me closer to sheer terror. Suddenly, all that separated me from this unknown demon was a wood and glass panel door covered with a frilly lace curtain.<\/p>\n

My tiny hand was shaking as I reached for the door-knob.\u00a0 Ever so slowly, I began to turn it until it clicked.\u00a0 Then, inch-by-inch, I pulled it open \u2013 not knowing what would greet me on the other side.<\/p>\n

The garage was empty, but I heard the creature whimpering. It was coming from the direction of our basement. I stepped through the door and peered down the concrete stairs.\u00a0 What I saw on that fateful morning, nearly sixty years ago, is permanently etched in my memory.<\/p>\n

I blinked\u2026refusing to believe what was in front of me. Then blinked again. A shadowy figure was contorting wildly near the bottom of the stairs.\u00a0 Between the wild undulating motion and the darkness of the garage, it was hard to get a clear picture of the beast\u2026until it turned and looked me squarely in the eye.<\/p>\n

It was my mother, shaking as though possessed by a demon!\u00a0 Her head snapped left then right while her beehive hairdo dipped in synchrony with each movement. It reminding me of tribal dancers I had seen the night before on a National Geographic Special.<\/p>\n

As I watched in silence, mystified by my mother\u2019s gyrations, something suddenly flew from her hair.\u00a0 A long, thin, green object about a foot long sailed like a javelin through the air. It landed a few feet in front of me, then wiggled away, finding a dark corner of the garage in which to hide.<\/p>\n

My mother\u2019s face was streaked black with mascara from crying.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh honey,\u201d she said as she sat down wobbly on a step.\u00a0 \u201cDid you see that snake?\u00a0 It must have jumped off the ledge as I was going down the stairs to check the laundry.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sobbed a little bit more, then wiped her face before climbing to the top and giving me a big hug.<\/p>\n

People said that my mother was one of the most beautiful women in town. I don\u2019t think they ever saw her when snakes were coming out of her hair.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was known in our house as the giggles hour \u2013 sixty magical minutes spent sitting in front of the television transfixed by Howdy Doody and a cast of lovable characters. It was a sacred time when nothing distracted me \u2013 not even ice-cream! Nothing, that is, but a shrill, piercing scream that sent shivers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-blog"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Medusa - John Leifer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It was known in our house as the giggles hour \u2013 sixty magical minutes spent sitting in front of the television transfixed by Howdy Doody and a cast of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/johnleifer.com\/?p=719\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Medusa - 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