Today's short story #MyChildhoodActors

“Marco! Polo! Marco! Polo! Marco! Polo!”

The Blair Witch Project*

       I went to the anime club and had tons of fun. Fun thing at this Japanese cartoon anime club I learned that there is an Iron Man cartoon from Japan. I wonder if it has or will be translated into English. If you want to see what a cartoon Robert Downey Jr. looks like as rendered in the Japanese style here's a little pic for you: http://www.jamaipanese.com/wp-content/uploads/iron-man-anime-1.jpg

Now onto the flash fiction!

My Childhood Actors

      I was a poor boy growing up. I only had three toys growing up: A teddy bear, a soccer ball, and an old doll passed down through the family longer than anyone could remember. No older or younger siblings to play with, but Dad or Mom would play catch or kick the soccer ball back and forth with me when they could. I had friends I hung out with but that was both later in life and only on occasion. In the times between it was me, the teddy bear, the soccer ball and the old doll. My parents had to work often to support the medical bills of my ailing grandmother.

        I couldn't think of many games to do alone with a soccer ball, doll and teddy bear. But one day we saw a play and I decided to make that my game everyday. And I decided that I would make my toys my actors in the play. Each day would bring a different play.

       The soccer ball could be the fat king getting disgusted with the falling in love of his daughter, the doll and the peasant off the street, the teddy bear. Or perhaps the teddy bear archeologist would have to flee the soccer ball boulder as it retrieved the golden artifact idol. The toys would play multiple parts in more complicated plays. The cardboard box they came in could be a house, castle, mountain, dungeon or an actor itself. The toys would be whatever they needed to be whether or not it would make sense to my parents as they watched. I made voices for them and over time I practiced.

      And now I work in the cartoon industry providing voices for many characters over the many shows I worked on over the years. All voices I honed and started with from my plays with those three toys. I doubt the audience could ever guess that the voice of their favorite superhero once belonged to a soccer ball.

This work is copyright Langdon Kennedy you may share this(email it, print it, post it on your own website, broadcast it etc.) work unaltered as long as you credit me as the author and share a link to this blog with it and it is not for profit. If you have any questions and/or are unclear of these conditions email me at llkenne1@asu.edu