Acting debut proves entertaining

Kassity asked for more blood as she wiggled her fingers inside the hacked open body lying motionless on the gurney in front of her. My brother obliged, emptying the bottle of fake blood into the plastic-lined body cavity.
Kassity is my brother’s niece and we were at Hueston Woods state park for the first weekend of their annual Halloween celebration. In honor of the holiday, campers decorated their campsites in the most gruesome fashions.
One of my brother’s friends had an old gurney for sale several years ago and my brother bought it as an adjustable work surface for his garage. He and his wife, Apryl, decided it would be a perfect prop for their annual trek to the park.
They concocted a body with some plastic hands, feet and other body parts plus some old clothing. The plan was to have my brother be the doctor operating on a patient and his wife would be the nurse. Kassity was not considered.
While the campsite was being decorated by Apryl, Kassity took the dog, Cosmo, and entered him onto the pet contest. They didn’t win, much to her disappointment. For his part, Cosmo was just glad to be rid of his costume.
When we arrived, my brother was still at home perfecting the foot that was to be the highlight of their display. We chatted with Apryl and enjoyed the perfect fall weather.
My brother soon drove up, bearing the severed foot. He tucked it into the empty pant leg of their patient then tried out the remote control he had rigged that jiggled the foot. It worked perfectly.
That’s when Kassity started playing with the body, stretching the “veins” (balloons filled with tomato sauce), “bowel” (black hosiery filled with who knows what) and assorted plastic organs. She was having such a good time that when it came time for trick or treat to begin, she was outfitted with a disposable gown, mask and headband.
My brother and his wife were dressed as a doctor and nurse and handed out the candy. My husband worked the remote control that wiggled the foot. Kassity came alive.
The girl must have worked a carnival in a previous life. She told passersby that new patients were being accepted. She exhorted people to come closer and notice that even though the patient could neither see nor hear (its ears were detached from the head) there was proof that it was still alive. That was my husband’s cue to activate the remote control and wiggle the foot.
Those who came too close and accidentally stepped on the plastic bones scattered around the gurney were told that they would be cursed if they stepped on the sacred relics. She held up a section of bloody bowel and promised to take care of anybody who needed their appendix out. She offered the heart as a snack and said it tasted like chicken.
Then she really got going by telling people that the patient was someone who had taken her Snickers bar and she had Tai Chi karate chopped him. Then she would root around in the organs looking for her Snickers.
The looks she got were priceless. Most of the younger goblins weren’t quite sure what to make of her. If she thought the little ones were scared, she made sure they knew it was all fake and done in the name of Halloween. One little boy shot the patient with his plastic gun.
A couple of children dressed in miniature scrubs passed by. Kassity hollered at them to turn around, that they were slackers and she had been waiting on them to help her. When they kept on walking she fired them.
It was as much fun watching people’s reactions as it was listening to a 12-year-old having the time of her life. If this child doesn’t go into some form of entertainment, then she will have missed her calling. She could have been practicing for a future infomercial. She could have been practicing for a job as a carnival worker. From what I saw, doctor would not be a good job for her.
Afterwards, the patient was dismantled, and the gurney cleaned. Kassity hopped on and my brother gave her a ride. She shrieked with laughter. Her stint as a surgeon was over but I’m sure the fake blood will stain her hands for weeks to come and I will smile every time I think of her performance.[[In-content Ad]]