Little Girls Are Messed Up

Lest you think otherwise.

I am 8. It is early in the school year, and I am at the dentist. As I sit in the wallpapered waiting room, awash in Top 40 radio, I pull a book from my bag to allay the boredom. The book is called Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones. I had begged for it until I was allowed to purchase it, yet I am among the last in class to get my hands on a copy. The badass, a-little-too-edgy-for-kids art by Stephen Gammell is just too glorious. It is sanctioned horror for children -- black and white, unsettling, and occasionally gross. These drawings have the ability to genuinely freak a kid out, or perhaps outright scare her to death.

So, I begin leafing through the book for the second or third time -- I must have gotten it at the school book fair shortly beforehand -- pleased as punch that I'm looking at something so creepy.

Ace of Base's "All That She Wants" comes on the radio. I've never heard it before, because the only top singles played in my household are by the Beatles, Elton John, Bob Dylan, and Bach. Such is childhood when one has boomer parents.

Then I see her. She isn't as dark or as skeletal as the others, but she hits me in the pit of my entrails with the sort of fright that all childhood boogeymen employ. Her beady black eyes, her wrinkled smirk, the wisps of her black hair -- I internalize all of her details instantly.

So, I'm deeply freaked out. All of a sudden, Ace of Base's state-of-the-art MIDI saxophone begins to sound kind of scary. I listen to the lyrics, and imagine that they refer to this pale, neckless abomination.

All that she wants / Is another baby / She's gone tomorrow. 

She's going to getcha!

Due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the word "baby" in this context (to be honest, I still don't know what the lyricist intended), I am pretty sure that this nightmare is going around trying to get pregnant by like, 6 different men at once so that she can spawn as many vile little boogeywomen as possible. Ew! I bet if you cut her, she bleeds black tar. What if she shows up in my bedroom? Understanding what I do about the science of human reproduction (I'm a big girl), I'm certainly not in any danger of giving her another baby. Still, she's gazing devilishly downward, as if over a child's bed. Does she lurk in the dark, after bedtime stories, when she's not out trying to get inseminated? This is not good. Must not let Mom know I'm scared. She'll confiscate this awesome book!

"Elena?" The dental hygienist with a clipboard is ready for me.

Days later, I'm in a friend's car, and her mother likes to listen to smooth jams while driving. I hear that plodding sax riff, and I shudder as they sing along and dance in their seats.