I've just received a copy of Derbhile Dromey's novel 'The Pink Cage' by post this morning and I'm really looking forward to reading it. On the cover is a young girl, probably about 3 or 4 years old. She is walking along a wide expanse of what I think is concrete with line markings on it. To her left is her shadow, and being a soul with an expansive but often crazy imagination, I can see a whole imaginary and scary world within this shadow. The lines intrigued me too. I remembered being a kid and how when I walked to school, I made a point of never walking on a crack or line marking on either the footpath or the road. Sometimes this meant taking little steps, sometimes is meant stretching your legs so far apart they hurt. I had this thing about cracks, it was all about how they might trap me into another world if I fell through them.
Now you might be thinking this is leading nicely into the title of imaginary friends, except for the fact that even though I had plenty of imaginary worlds, I never did have an imaginary friend. This surprises me greatly. You would think me being me, that an imaginary friend would have been a must, but alas not in my case. However my children did have them, in fact my son had an entire imaginary football team which managed to keep him very busy!
So did you have an imaginary friend, or friends? Did you do daft things like me and stretch your legs way further than they should be stretched just to avoid an innocent crack?
I always love to hear your stories, so please do share them if you wish, and yes, I am still a bit cracked!
No imaginary friends here. Can you believe it? Lots of made up stories, but not people.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Krystal we just waited until we grew up to have the imaginary friends?
ReplyDeleteHow about becoming something ? Pegasus was
ReplyDeletea good way to enjoy long car, bus, train, rides.
he could race along over fields and hedges, no problem!
Sounds brill Izzy - Go Pegasus!
ReplyDeleteNo imaginary friends, but lots of imaginary trips to imaginary places... or thoughts of taking them with real friends.
ReplyDeleteI had Elizabeth. She wore a white dress, with a blue sash and shiny black shoes. She had long blonde ringlets. Apparently she came everywhere with me! :)
ReplyDeleteJust like me Reflections!
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of Elizabeth - and I used to adore my own shiny black shoes - they were the business!!!
No imaginary friends for me either. Like your good self, I avoided pavement cracks, also walking under monkey trees and probably a few more I cannot recall.
ReplyDeleteDid worry about possible unwanted imaginary monsters - used to check under my bed, behind the curtains and in the wardroble and none found, I could safely sleep.
Anna :o]
when I walked to school in Belfast...I never walked in the gutter as I didn't want anyone to day that I was in a rut!!
ReplyDeleteAnne, oh brave you searching under the bed-I used to just lie there scared to pieces!!
ReplyDeleteLooking up to the stars no doubt Gerry:)
No invisible human friends, but I had an invisible dog which was a black and tan Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I used to take her for walks round the garden. I also used to give everything names – and I mean everything, down to the chairs and table in the kitchen!
ReplyDeleteOMG Emma that's pretty cool. I know this is totally different, but have you read 'Room' by Emma O Donoghue. In it everything had a name!
ReplyDeleteNO imaginary friends as a child, might have some now:) I did the same as a child with the cracks in the pavement, we had a rhyme, something about if you step on a crack you have to wash the devils back...?! What a chore!
ReplyDeleteI never had imaginary friends, but our farm yard was haunted, so I did think a lot about what went on down there!
ReplyDeleteNo imaginary friends but i had an imaginary dog for a week or two, i even made it a lead, everyone ignored it/me and it vanished?
ReplyDeleteI know it would not be considered PC these days, but my auntie Gwen used to say say to me, "step on a crack and you'll marry a black" I was only 5 or 6 yrs old and would be hoppin and jumping all over the street.
I step on cracks in defiance these days, testing something that was drummed in at a young age, and not minding if it comes true.
120 Socks said...
ReplyDeleteOMG Emma that's pretty cool. I know this is totally different, but have you read 'Room' by Emma O Donoghue. In it everything had a name!
Yes, I loved that book! Such an amazing idea.
I don't recall having an imaginary friend, but I did dodge the cracks. My daughter had an imaginary friend who lived in the TV.
ReplyDeleteGosh Wordsaday - they put the fear of God and the Devil in us!!!
ReplyDeleteA haunted barn Michelle - you must do a blog post on this-would love to hear more.
Mark, I love the fact that you made the dog a lead, you were so industrious as a youngster - nuts about what your Auntie said re cracks, and even more nuts that we still today hold on to part of the myth! Drummed into us it certainly was.
Yay Emma, yes it was a great book. We had mixed views in our book club on it, but I really thought it was great.
The cracks got you as well Dave-my God what were they at scaring us that way! Your daughter having an imaginary friend in the TV. That's a new one on me!:)
Avoiding cracks in the pavement was my special talent so I understand that one completely.
ReplyDeleteSwimming in the 'road lake' that formed at the end of our street after heavy rain and thinking I was Jacques Cousteau.
There was an incline made of rock at the back of our house and I had an entire planet mapped out.
Staging plays to no one on the front porch.
But not one imaginary friend.
I did have a teddy bear named Harvest that I used to talk to but I guess that doesn't really count.
Thanks for helping me pull out those memories Louise. Great post.
And thank you Deborah, even if like myself, you had no imaginary friend, your imagination is rather splendid!
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