Go For the Laugh

      A few years ago a co-worker at the lab asked if I would come to his teenage daughter's Halloween sleepover party and tell some stories. I remember practicing a Medusa story and a skull by the side of the road tale, and then I thought I would horrify them with the story of the classmate back in 10^th grade English who talked about the children in the German concentration camps in World War II.

       When I mentioned to Mike what I was going to tell, he seemed a bit concerned and said that there is a difference between scary and downright horror. I tried to justify it – they will be a bunch of giggly girls who think they can handle scary and I'll prove to them that there exists stuff about human beings that is life-long horrifying.

       “Call your daughter,” Mike said.

       So I called Sarah who by that time had become an experienced and well established storyteller and children's librarian. I asked if she thought it would be okay to tell giggly teenage girls such a disturbing story.

       “If it is ever a dilemma, if you are trying to decide between a laugh or something else – always go for the laugh,” was Sarah's response of infinite wisdom.

       95% of the class opted for the laugh.

       If there is a choice – go for the laugh.

       So I told the Medusa story and the skull by the side of the road story and a story I can't recall now except that it was really gross. And the giggly girls giggled.

       And go for the laugh is my storytelling philosophy. Well, it is my philosophy ninety five percent of the time.

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