Large Fierce Mammal

Mrs. LFM and I were recently asked to dinner at the residence of the kind of friends that don’t require the services of a food and drink taster before anything passes one’s lips. In the course of the evening I had cause to mention our preferences for dark, even black, humour. I further recounted how much of what I hold dear in life fits within the scope of the description I once heard of how the Tuareg tribesmen like their coffee:

Black as the Devil,
Strong as Death,
Sweet as Love,
And Hot as Hell.

Our hostess asked for clarification on the definition of dark humour in all its shades and so, for educational purposes, I related the story of the day that a blue jay regrettably only nearly beheaded my ex-wife, recounted in my  26 September 2008 article titled What’s Worse Than Finding a Blue Jay in Your Car? As the story progressed our hostess giggled, ultimately bursting into tearful laughter at the story’s conclusion. As she considered her reaction afterward, she wondered out loud if her mirth was due to finding humour in what for the blue jay was a tragic event, and what for at least some of the car’s occupants was a traumatic and stomach turning experience, or if it was because of the way I told the story.

Now I’d be the last to say that how a story is told has no effect on the reaction of one’s audience, but in this case, the facts are the facts. For the most part, what I did while telling the story was put the listener in the driver’s seat on that fateful day. Admittedly, my way of telling it helped our hostess to turn her empathy off, and for that I  sincerely do not apologize. In short, I will take full blame for her giggles while I was telling the story, but I have to give full credit to the facts for her laughter at its conclusion.

The first time I viewed today’s feature film it reminded me of a spectral girl I once met personally, chronicled in my 7 September 2008 article titled Musings as Hallowe’en Approaches – Part the Second. You can read it by clicking the title. That article, by the way, is scheduled to appear in John Robert Colombo’s upcoming Second Big Book of Canadian Ghost Stories; at least so far. What actually happens in the editorial process is always anybody’s guess. Anyway, other than the fact that my spectral girl hit me in the head with a door, she didn’t seem to be all that evil. Still, that was a long time ago, I haven’t seen her since then, and she may have refined her technique along the line.

Whether or not you need any further clarification on the subject of the darker side of humour, sit back and enjoy today’s dark feature.