Week 28. Sawubona (“I See You”)

[rayaso]

THE SCIENTISTThe lab was a mess, even to the most charitable visitor. Unfinished projects littered every flat surface, especially the floor, with spare parts and equipment scattered about. Maintenance had refused to clean it until everything was put away

Comments

[viagra]

Oh my gosh; I think I love Stanley! When I'm playing the movie of this story in my head, Stanley looks an awful lot like Butters from South Park to me. I think that the funniest part of this to me is the fact that he created something that lets him travel to other dimensions and called it The Time Chamber. What a perfect name.

I also really enjoy that Stanley's mom, er, the cook, harbors that little bit of trepidation when she knows he's up to something, but still lets him be himself-he's not hurting anybody by being invisible! That's good parenting right there. Stay weird, Stanley.

Great work!

[rayaso]

Thank you so much! I don't really have a picture of what Stanley looks like in my head, so Butters is a good one. He's kind of a combination of Dennis the Menace and Calvin, with (I hope) something of my own thrown in. You're right -- Time Chamber is a bad name for something that sends him between dimensions, but he's only about 8, so he makes mistakes. It is actually his bedroom closet, which is why it is dark when he visits the Fifth Dimension. Stanley does have good parents. They play along with and facilitate his imagination. His mother is the cook as well as maintenance and his father is the engineer in this story. The roles change depending on what adult is needed in his current fantasy. Stanley will always be weird.

[bleodswean]

STANLEY!!!! I loved this! I always always always get giddy in a Stanley story at the moment I realize that it IS a Stanley story! Perfectly wrought introduction, G, and fantastically funny middle and delightfully appropriate ending. I loved this installment!

[rayaso]

I'm so glad you like these stories. I try and delay the identity of the main character as long as I can. The first thing that popped into my mind was invisibility, which is the opposite of the prompt, and that led me to Stanley. He's a fun character to write. Your input always means a lot to me.

[lyssa027]

That meant a choice: inspiration or brownies? Brownies won. His invisibility project could wait. He knew that if he didn’t get brownies soon, he would starve.

Brownies always win for me too ;)

This reminds me so much of the Muppet Babies cartoon that I used to watch when I was younger ;)

[rayaso]

Brownies win for me as well, but an invisibility suit would be a temptation that would be hard to resist. Still, brownies . . . . If you were a little kid, what could cause you to pass up double chocolate peanut butter brownies, fresh from the oven, with a glass of milk?

[dadi]

What a lovely, funny story :)

[rayaso]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for reading.

[karmasoup]

I just love how perfectly you get into this kid's head, and I absolutely adore the juxtaposition of his imaginary world, his perspective of the real world, and a couple of parents, a friend (and a sweet old neighbor) sorting their way through it. This had me snickering out loud in so many cute places! <3

[rayaso]

I really enjoyed our children's' "make believe" period. It was so much fun watching and playing along. I tried to bring a little of that here. His parents and the other adults, even Joan, play along because, really, why not? A few years ago there was a little girl who would walk past our house with her father and she was always wearing cowboy boots, a pink tutu, some weird shirt and a tiara, sometimes with fairy wings, sometimes not. Her father always looked so proud (as he should have). I wondered what was going on in her head. I'm glad you enjoyed the make believe in this story and found it believable for a little kid.