Childhood disappointments

[Amy Z <lupinesque@yahoo.com>]

Elkins wrote:

> I remember a friend of mine telling me all about Patty Hearst, who 
> had been "kidnapped and brainwashed by the underground."
> 
> Well, I'd never heard the expression "the underground" before, and 
so 
> I imagined it literally.  I was envisioning these Mole People sort 
of
> revolutionaries, who all lived in weird little communities down in 
> the sewers and subway tunnels.
> 
> Needless to say, I wanted to join them.  ;-)

I thought "brainwashing" was something one could literally do with 
some kind of liquid.  I could swear I got this idea not from Patty 
Hearst but from a Bionic Woman episode where there was a brainwashing 
operation based in an ersatz hair salon, where the stuff they rubbed 
into people's scalps really did have a psychoactive effect.  Literal 
brainwashing.  No wonder kids are confused.

I also remember being absolutely certain that the child-size cars you 
could buy from Sears Roebuck had an actual engine in them.  I 
desperately wanted one.  It's a good thing I didn't get it, or I'd 
have become hysterical upon learning that the "engine" was just a 
bike pedal mechanism.

Man, growing up is just a progressive series of disenchantments, 
isn't it?  And here I just preached a whole sermon about how the 
compensations are worth it.  Now I'm trying to think what the hell 
they are.  Sex, falling in love, having enough money to buy your own 
HP books on the very first day of release, paying taxes . . . um, I 
seem to have run out.

BTW, are you referring to the actual movie, The Mole People, with the 
unforgettable John Agar?  Because I LOVE that movie (as interpreted 
by MST3K . . . I don't think I could handle the unadulterated 
version).

Amy Z