Freddy Krueger at My Place Tonight

Mom was visiting her sisters on the east coast, my best friend, Nick, stayed the night, and Dad let us rent any horror flick we wanted. Of course, we chose A Nightmare on Elm Street. It was 1988. We were fourth graders, and we had imaginations.

The Freddy Krueger franchise had already begun in 1984, and our inexplicable obsession with this ghastly looking man and his mysterious “claw” was in full swing during recess. Some boys played football. The girls gravitated to the tetherball. Nick and I hung around the sewer grate and pretended Freddy was in there.

We knew very little about Elm Street and Freddy, but we did know he had what we called a “claw” on his right hand. We tried to build our own out of a gardening glove, duct tape, and construction board. Somehow, we were able to bring this makeshift claw outside during recess and pretend we could slash each other in our make-believe slumber. (Again, it was 1988.)

We switched who would play Freddy and who would get slaughtered, and then we became teachers. Nick has been teaching elementary school for eighteen years. I’m on year 22 as a high school music teacher.

I’d like to think of Nick and I as good people, good dads, and good teachers.

Freddy Krueger is not a good teacher, but the cinematic genre he represents is a good, thrill-seeking time. We loved the movie as kids, hid behind our couch pillows a couple of times, and hardly slept. How could we? Freddy would get us!

I think back on fourth grade recess, the sewer grate, and the “claw,” and I smile. Nick and I turned out all right, and we’d probably stick to our Freddy Krueger obsession again, even if social media existed in ’88.

Tonight, my friends and family are coming over for my annual “Horror Night at Bernie’s.” A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) will be on the screen, and Nick and Freddy will be there.

I can’t wait.

Happy (almost) Halloween, everyone!

Reely Bernie