Dear Jessica Brennan,
When I was growing up if something happened in our house that wasn’t supposed to, we blamed Randy. Randy was a character we had created to take the blame for any missing cookies or scraped walls. If no one wanted to own it, Randy did it. I still see Randy apologetically standing in the corner from time to time.
When you were little, I started writing stories for you with recurring characters. The Puppet, Leapy, the Men’s Feline Chorus, Marlayna, Narchie, Cousin Bennett. I included names you knew and delighted you with the humour of naming a cat after a friend. Feline Paulton, Feline Meilleur made you giggle, or we used names of our own and other people’s cats, like Meatloaf, Goodboy and Bootie.
These characters now have lived with us through all the various phases of our lives. We draw them on birthday cards, talk about them like they are old friends and invite them to family dinners to this day.
The stories about them, feel more like memories. “Remember the time the Puppet got a job at the bakery?” Is as much a memory as a work of fiction.
I feel sorry for people who don’t have any imaginary, or what I would rather call imagination friends. We know the personalities of our characters almost as well as we know each other. The tales of the Puppet’s mischief, Marlayna’s wisdom and Feline Paulton’s addiction to catnip can be counted on as surely as our real friend Dave’s stories of being run over by things.
Imagination friends can be created at any time. Just think one up and bring it with you on your journey. They always love you, they never leave you and they tend to agree with you. They also multiply. I started with just two, but then those two introduced me to others, and now we are a crowd.
Some people who are more sensible than I could ever hope to be will read this and think, “Oh grow up Sharon”.
No thank you.
Love,
Mum (and the Puppet) xo
Thank you Rique Franks for the illustration of Leapy
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