Chapter 4 ~ Family Rules – Part I
March 11, 2010
I was the centre of attention.
Although for the longest time I forgot.
Because I was the centre of attention when I was only a year old.
Everyone loved me. I was the cute kid. The blue eyes, the smirk, the way I lit up anyone’s face with the radiance of my own.
The camera loved me.
And everyone who saw me fell a little bit in love.
When I reached out to grasp something, my pudgy little baby hands waving in the air, keen to grasp hold of whatever it was that had caught my attention, it would be in my hands before I even had chance to yell frustration; placed there by some adult whose only purpose was to keep me happy, or so it seemed.
They wanted me.
Look over here.
No, over here.
Coochy-coo.
Do you want your rattle?
This way.
That way.
Smile at me, baby.
Action.
The cameras would roll. The actors would act.
And the child star would do his thing without being able to think about it, without ever having to think about it. Smiling, gurgling, winning the audience over with his cobalt blue eyes and huge, gums-only grin.
* * *
Between scenes, they gave me sugar syrup on a spoon.
Kept me happy.
Kept me docile.
I looked forward to the time between scenes more than I did the scenes themselves.
I was one year old.
