Running With Scissors

Roughly thirty years ago my family and I drove to Swiss, WV and bought 300 chickens. I'm not sure why--my Dad probably got a good deal on the birds--but he went all out, buying hens, roosters and the long metal cages that they roosted in.

(Years later, when the chickens freely roamed our fairly large semi-functional farm, my brother and I were charged with feeding them. We would on occasion lace the cracked corn with those little poppers you buy at gag shops, the ones with thin paper all twisted up, and filled with small amounts of gunpowder. The chickens would peck at the corn until their little beaks would strike one of the poppers just right:

Peck...peck...peck...ka-bam!...peck...ka-bam!...peck...peck...peck.)

OK, I'm back now.

I may be confused about the timing of events but as I remember it, in addition to chickens we brought home a young girl named Lynn. She lived for the summer with my grandparents, next door to me. I suspect now that she must have arrived at my grandparents' home because she had been abused by her parents or was from a dysfunctional home, but I didn't think to ask her that at the time. I just knew she liked to play in the creek, threw a pretty terrific curve ball and was rather tough for a chick.

Scary tough.

I think it was because she had to fend for herself back in the day. Even though she was still pretty young, I recall her as having the sort of presence that comes with experience, the kind of perspective that comes from disappointment. Lynn left in the Fall, and I never saw her again. Maybe some day I'll find out why she was there.

I was reminded of Lynn while watching the supposedly-true-story of Running With Scissors. The flick, based on the novel by Agusten Burroughs, tells the story of a child whose parents struggle with the challenges of mental illness, and who abandon their son. While seeking psychiatric help Agusten's mother falls under the spell of her Svengali psychiatrist and leaves her child in the care of the psychiatrist and his eccentric family.

The results are disturbing, dark and catastrophic. And you can't stop watching it!

Running With Scissors illustrates the need each of us has for family, and the social, emotional and psychological problems that can occur when that need isn't met. The movie celebrates eccentricity, but points out that while oddity can be interesting and charming, stability is something children need in their lives.

Luckily, Agusten Burroughs figured it out and created a successful life for himself despite his circumstances.

I wonder what ever became of Lynn.