Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

The Secular Spectrum

Home
Nonreligious
What if she comes anyway?

What if she comes anyway?

Last updated on: March 1, 2016 at 8:30 pm by Dale McGowan

What if she comes anyway? 2016-03-01T20:30:03-05:00 Dale McGowan

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Her name was first spoken in hushed tones among children all over America… Children of all races and classes told of the hideous demon conjured by chanting her name before a mirror in a pitch-dark room. And when she crashes through the glass, she mutilates children before killing them. — from “Myths Over Miami” by Lynda Edwards

“Dad?”

“Yeah, B.” It was my daughter Erin, aka “the B.” She was nine at the time.

“Can you come into the bathroom with me?”

“You need to talk about something?” Odd habit in our family: one person sits on the edge of the tub and chats up the person on the commode. A gift from my wife’s side.

“No…I’m scared to go in there.”

“Why? It’s the middle of the day.”

“I know, but…Daddy, just come in with me.”

“Not ’til you tell me what you’re afraid of.”

She hesitated — then said, “The mirror.”

“What about the mirror?”

She leaned in and whispered, wide-eyed: “Bloody Mary.”

I knew just what she meant. I was a kid too, you know.

“Desirée at school says if you turn off the lights and turn around three times in front of the mirror with your eyes closed and say Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, then open your eyes — a woman all covered in blood will be looking at you from in the mirror!”

A quiver-chill went through me. I was a kid again. I remembered exactly how it felt to hear such things whispered by a true believer. Their wide-eyed conviction went straight through me. But in my day, Bloody Mary didn’t just look at you — she came crashing through the glass, shrieking, and strangled you. I decided not to share that.

“So just go in, leave the light on, and don’t spin around or say the name.” This was hopelessly lame, and I knew it. Do I really know the rules? What if she comes anyway? Once the concept is in your head, why, the very thought of Bloody Mary might conjure her up. She might appear just because she knows I know! And she knows I know she knows I know!

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go with you. But you know what I’m gonna do.”

“NO DADDY!”

We went eye to eye. “Sweetie, tell me the truth. Do you think Bloody Mary is real, or just a story?”

She looked away. “Just a story.”

“So why be afraid of a story?” Again, so lame! Yes, it’s just a story — but ultimately, in our human hearts and reptile brains, standing in the dark, such a rational defense is toothless.

Her forehead puckered into a plead. “I know she’s just a story, but…what if she comes anyway?”

See? I remember.

I walked into the bathroom and pulled the curtains across the window. Erin followed, timidly, cupping her hand by her eyes to avoid the mirror. “You don’t have to come in if you don’t want to,” I said. She sat on the lid of the toilet, whimpering.

I shut the door and turned out the lights. Nooooohohohoho, she began to moan with fourth-grade melodrama.

I stepped solemnly to the mirror and began to turn. Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary! I pulled my hands from my eyes. “See?” I knocked on the mirror. “Helloooooo! Hey lady! Look B, nobody’s home!”

Erin peeled her hands from her eyes and squealed with delight. “I’m gonna do it!”

She walked slowly to the mirror, trembling with anticipation. Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary…Bloody Mary! She peeked through her fingers.

“Eeeeeheeheeheehee!” she laughed, jumping up and down.

But if you think she was cured — if you think Daddy’s words were really enough to slay the dragon — then you were never a kid. Maybe we said her name too fast, you see, or too slow, or or or maybe we didn’t believe in her enough. Maybe she just can’t be tricked by a skeptical dad into showing herself. Erin didn’t say any of these things, but I know she was thinking them.

Sure enough, by the next day, she was recruiting bodyguards to the bathroom again.

I didn’t try to talk her out of it. To paraphrase Swift, it’s hard to reason someone out of something they weren’t reasoned into in the first place. And it’s fun for a while to believe such a thing is possible.

There’s also an inescapable fact: for all my brave talk, when I pulled my own hands from my eyes in that darkened bathroom and saw the mirror, my rational self dove behind me, just for a fraction of a second, as my little boy heart raced at the question that never completely goes away:

What if she comes anyway?

DALE McGOWAN is the author of Raising Freethinkers. He lives in Atlanta.

Previous Post

February 29, 2016

Don't Let God Be Your Driver

Next Post

March 3, 2016 Born Free (of God)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Ableism Activism Addiction and Recovery Agnosticism Anti-intellectualism Arts Atheism Beauty Catholicism Charles Darwin Children China Christianity Church/State separation churchgoing communication compassionate humanism Creationism critical thinking Culture death disaster response doubt education Egypt Entertainment Environment ethics evolution Existence of God Exploration fear Foundation Beyond Belief Free speech God Health History Human rights humanism identity India Interfaith Islam labels Language LGBT Love Meaning Media Medicine Middle East misconceptions mixed belief marriage Moral argument Morality Myths Near-Death Experience Nonreligious parenting Parody Persecution complex Philosophy Poetry Politics prayer Psychology Rationality Religion religious atheists Religious privilege Republican Party Satire Schools science secular parenting Spirituality The Unpigeonholeables Uncategorized United Kingdom Wonder

Select a Month March 2021 August 2020 March 2020 January 2020 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 April 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 June 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What was Jesus nailed to?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A stake A cross A treehouse A ladder