Cat Hats

A typical conversation* during a fellowship dinner at my church:

Thing 1 (our Kids' Pastor) to me: What you need to do is write a book with silly but easy-to-make costumes, so that when you do book signings you can secretly be laughing at all the people who come to the signings looking like complete idiots.

Thing 2 (his wife): Ooooh, like cat hat costumes! Only with real cats. Absolute mayhem would ensue.

Thing 1 (sarcastically): Bookstores would love you.

I was highly amused, but after the dinner I forgot the conversation and went on with my life. Then the next day the following showed up on my Facebook page:

Thing 2: We've got it! The story premise is that a kid writes messages to the sewer people, seals them in little tubes and flushes them. The sewer people are the ones who will have the costumes. Costumes which will have cat hats. LIVE cat hats. You should TOTALLY write this story for Thing 1. He will be soooo happy.

Red Fish**: It needs a twist. Like, at the end, you find out that the little boy is a cat hat.

Blue Fish**: PLEASE make the sewer people talk with a funny accent... A blend of Pirate and Indonesian... And the leader has a bright purple trench coat with feathered lapels... His catch phrase should be “Down here, there is no 3 second rule...”

Thing 2: Ooo! And goggles.*** All the cool underground/steampunk/lost society people wear welding goggles.

Thing 1: Ok, so the enemy of the sewer people should be origami monsters that have been brought to life by gamma rays. The sewer people have the advantage because the water makes the origami soggy, but are also at a disadvantage because the cats they wear on their heads are afraid of paper. We could make a lot of marketing money selling college ruled diy origami monsters...

At this point I was well beyond just “amused.” I love people who have quirky creativity like this. They make life a lot more interesting.

Have you ever had a really silly story idea like this, either of your own making or “gifted” from someone else?

* I can't actually remember which of them said what, but you get the general idea.

** Other Facebook friends from church.

*** I'm of the opinion that they should be swimming goggles.