In Laymon's Terms

Brian Freeman

HIS STORY SPARKED a conversation I had with Richard Laymon while I was in college. This was at Brian Keene’s house, during an event fondly known as KeeneCon. I had a family obligation that prevented me from hanging out the entire weekend, but one of the main reasons I decided to sneak away for at least one afternoon was the chance to finally meet Dick in person.

Once there, I had no idea what to actually say to him, so I basically hid in the corner (like I usually do at these things) and said nothing. Finally I gathered up the courage to approach him, still with no idea what to say, and I ended up talking about the first thing to pop into my head: a paper I had written for a journalism class the previous semester.

The class was about writing feature length news articles, but the final assignment was meant to be an experiment in creating vivid descriptions. The professor told us to imagine a wife driving home with a surprise for her husband. We were to describe the drive and the surprise, “kind of like a short story.”

Well, I wrote a piece called “Loving Roger,” and I suspect it was unlike anything else the other students in the class came up with in response to the assignment. I’m still not sure why I took the approach I did, given the subject matter of the class, but the idea was just there in my head, so I ran with it like I normally would with any other story.

After I turned the paper in, it wasn’t too long before I started to have second thoughts about what I had written. Was it really a good idea to share this sort of story with someone who was going to decide if I passed a journalism class and who had influence over the department that would control the rest of my college education?

When my paper was returned to me the next week, I saw a lot of red ink at the top and my heart dropped. Then I read what the professor had written: “I don’t understand what you’ve done here, but it’s VERY creative. A+”

I passed the class.

So, a few weeks later and not knowing what else to say to Richard Laymon, I told him this story there in Brian Keene’s dining room, and then I asked him: “So is that a good sign or a bad sign?”

He paused, thought about it for a good long moment, and finally replied: “I think that’s the BEST sign.”

Everyone laughed, and I was relieved and thrilled.

“Loving Roger” was never submitted for publication, but I think it’s only fitting for the story to appear here. I just wish Dick could have read it for himself.