By Craig P. Dixon, southcoast247.com correspondent Social Commentary 120
July 17th, 2007
Ladies and gents, it's often been said that fiction mirrors truth. Hell,
just about every two-bit author I've read has gotten material from either a)
reality, or b) a previously written book or books, depending upon whether
you're reading Shakespeare.
No matter the case, rarely do we have an occasion where reality mirrors
fiction. Unless, of course, we're talking about some bullshit piece of white
trash hate literature like "The Turner Diaries". That book inspired a piece
of white trash shit named Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City. But that's another story entirely.
Have you ever read Chuck Palahniuk's "Haunted"? There's a vignette included
about a man who swims to the bottom of the pool and uses the filter intake
to get himself off. It's based on the reality of people using the suction
generated by the filtration system to get off, but not from the way you're
expecting. The character in the book puts his ass over the intake and
masturbates.
Unfortunately for him, the suction is so great that he's literally stuck to
the bottom of the pool by his anus. When he begins to swim away, his
intestines start to pull from his body. So, he's got a choice. Swim to
freedom, and be literally disemboweled in the process. Or stay at the bottom
and drown. He chooses the former, and can't eat or shit right for the rest
of his life.
I wanted to know if his family ever used the pool again.
Well, sometimes truth mirrors fiction. On July 5, 2007, a 6-year-old girl
sat on the bottom of a Kiddie Pool. She likely wasn't there for pleasure,
but filter intakes don't discriminate. The suction from the filtration
system was enough to pull part of her small intestines out.
She managed to survive after pulling herself out of the Kiddie Pool and into
the regular pool's deep end, where she collapsed. Doctors managed to operate
successfully. Yet, she too won't be able to digest food properly. She'll
likely have to be put on an IV, or extremely specialized diet, for life.
There is, of course, a lesson here, kiddies. Read all you can. If this poor
girl had read Palahniuk's book, maybe she wouldn't have sat her ass over a
goddamned filter intake.
Then again, she's only six. Probably hasn't read much.
Oh well. Good luck, kid.
Ladies and gents, it's often been said that fiction mirrors truth. Hell,
just about every two-bit author I've read has gotten material from either a)
reality, or b) a previously written book or books, depending upon whether
you're reading Shakespeare.
