|
               |
 |
| LOVER'S LANE: The story is a classic... A young couple on their second date, a drive-in double feature, a car that sputters to a halt on a lonely stretch of country road because the juvenile hot-rodder who managed to wrangle dad's keys "accidentally" forgot to fill the tank - two teenagers alone, surrounded by darkness (save, perhaps, the dim, bluish-green illumination provided by the dashboard clock). The windows start to fog as post-pubescent hormones rage in a cacophony of pre-nuptial bliss, and just as this duo's passion reaches a fever pitch... Yup, you guessed it... Something moves in the shadows just beyond the breath-fogged windshield. At this point the story can take any one of two dozen twists, depending on local legends, environment, and sobriety levels. From this moment on these young lovers are prone to encounter any number of classic boogeyman who might proceed to throw rocks, strike the hood of the car with alarming ferocity or attempt to force its way through a cracked window in an effort to do one or both of the youngsters bodily harm. If not a hideous man-beast, then perhaps the couple's gaze will fall upon a fiendish, hook appendaged man with an unearthly grin... or maybe an 8-foot tall, ape-like creature covered with filthy, matted fur, that reaches through the window to entwine it's gnarled fingers in the young woman's hair... sometimes all they'll see is a pair of glowing eyes, and on other occasions it's a bipedal lizard with huge three taloned claws, which rakes tendrils of paint off the side of dads' brand new Buick. Whatever these creatures are, there is one thing for sure... they're often mean, forever ugly, and almost always ruin the mood. |