Steven King’s - The Mist
Posted on November 6, 2007 in the My Stumbles, Ranting category
I was just checking out the trailers for The Mist by Stephen King and have to say that it looks intriguing. I enjoyed the very candid interview with director Frank Darabont(Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile) that had some amusing anecdotes about his experience with the film.
An underlying theme in this movie seems to be about the breakdown of our society or relationships in times of intense hardship. People’s true nature can be revealed when faced with adversity - perhaps the “fight or flight” response. It got me thinking of a time that I found myself in a threatening situation.
We lived in Upstate New York for a few years when I was young. I was about 8 or 9 years old - we lived in a trailer park. One day, a group of us guys decided that we wanted to ride on some new bike trails that were down the road. The problem was that to get there, we had to ride past this really spooky castle-house. Some guy decided to build a mini-castle out of stone (I’m guessing the trailer park wasn’t there when he started) and then surround his place with gi-normous Rottweilers and Dobermans. I think there were 3 of each - all chained up outside. Of course, with a place like this comes the neighborhood lore - for example, under the castle were a network of tunnels and the dogs where there to guard whatever secrets were in them. Then there was the story of a Rotty breaking through his 3 inch chain to run down and attack a little boy. Completely unsubstantiated of course.
There were 5 of us, I think, that began our adventure that day. A group of boys - normally rowdy and yelling - became stoic as we passed by the castle, looking for any sign of a dog or broken chain. We made it by without incident (dogs must have been sleeping) and proceeded to the bike trails. After a couple hours of riding, we had to make the trip for the second time past the castle. This time was a bit different - we immediately notice 2 of the Rottweilers and a Doberman patrolling the sides of the yard. We stop dead in our tracks as they zero in on us. Having backed off a bit, we discussed our options. Most of you may understand boyhood bravado - everyone decided that we just needed a running start to race past the waiting dogs. Everyone but me that is - I wanted to call my mom and get a ride home. Having voiced my opinion and then being laughed at, we reversed course to get our running start. We got our bikes going as fast as we could, with me trailing behind of course. The dogs came rushing to the property edge, barking and snarling all the way. I watched as each of my friends made it by unscathed and thought that I actually had a chance. As I go racing by, my pant leg gets caught in my chain and slows me down - and I begin crying like a baby. One of the Rottweilers run into the road and starts barking at me - just inches from my legs. I rip my pants out of the chain and get back on my bike - still screaming like a girl. The dog chased me for a bit and then turned around, I was surprised to have made it with all my toes intact.
I get back to relative safety only to find that my “friends” had fallen off their bikes in laughter as they watched me escape death. This incident provided fodder for weeks of jokes.
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Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you!
Good luck and successes in blogging!