The Story Behind the Story

The Lenski Kids and Dracula

This book was born of a very real and very disturbing experience many years before I actually 'told the tale.' in book form. When our own kids were quite young, we belonged to a babysitting club and it was MY TURN to go out and do some sitting. 'Ugh no!' my husband would not babysit the Lenski kids because 'they had to be the worst kids in the world!' ( He was probably scared). So I took the usual bribes such as chocolates and jelly babies and off I went to the Lenskis' wildly untidy house with a heavy heart. It was terrible, as I'd predicted – in fact, even more terrible than I'd predicted. Noel the big boy, turned off the electricity to the house, leaving us in the scary dark and I had to beg him to put it on again. Samantha did headstands at the back of the lounge and cartwheels over the carpet, while little Craig stuck his fingers in the peanut butter and jam jars and then – oh, I won't say. Not one of them would listen to anything I told them, let alone anything I asked of them. Finally it was 9.30pm and the rule of the house was they had to go to bed. But they wouldn't go. Not until I viewed the new pool in the back garden, they told me. I was foolish enough to agree. Well, what else could I do? As we stepped onto the lawn Craig and Samantha each took my hand and I felt a kind of warm glow – maybe they weren't so bad after all! But at the pool's edge I changed my mind big time! Big brother Noel was right behind me and I ended up experiencing their pool, clothes and all! The Lenski Kids and Dracula is my revenge novel. I send Dracula to torture the kids poolside – and I haven't finished either. I feel a sequel coming on!
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