New Worlds

Whoa! Scary children! Hyperbole and a Half demonstrates just how scary they can be.

Imagination can be a dangerous thing and lead to many careers, like writing...

I remember as a kid using a ride-a-roo, or space hopper - you know, those rubber balls filled with air with a handle - to bounce around the backyard, or, in my world, the Wild West! Yee-haa! Then there was the pogo-stick that doubled as a broadsword; I managed to hit my youngest sister with that one, but hey, I was a knight! The pinecones and fists of sand at the beach that doubled as grenades; the greenhouse - deepest, darkest Africa - ripe for exploration (damn you, Kipling!); the garage provided a place to rescue people from, or was a mad scientist's laboratory. The park became the Sydney Cricket Ground where my brothers snickered as they bowled the fast ones, or near sunset, another landscape to find a path through.

No wolves, though. Tigers, lions, goblins, the Hun and so many more... then back to the bookcase to find more adventures to translate into action.

It's nice to think back on those times, they were real, well, to me they were. It's even better to be able to create new worlds now. There's just so much out there to explore... and twist into whatever I want.

Imagination makes all things possible - at least on paper.