Middle Aged Slumber Party #1
Christopher Pike's Slumber Party: Chapter One, Part One
Hi, friends,
For years now, I’ve wanted to do a deep dive into the YA horror from the ‘80s and ‘90s. When I was a kid, I jumped pretty much straight from middle grade to adult fiction, so I missed a lot of REALLY fun stuff. Based on what I’ve explored so far, I’d argue that it might be even MORE fun as a 40-something than it would have been as a teenager??
Obviously, this is one of those voyages that’ll be more fun with friends. So subscribe to follow along, re-read the books if you’re feeling it, and for SURE, please tell me all about your memories of reading these books way back when.
I’m starting with Slumber Party, by Christopher Pike, which was one of the first—if not the actual first?—title published in Scholastic’s Point Horror imprint. It’s about a group of old friends getting together for a ski getaway… but then, you know: MURDER?
Dana Miller’s downshifting, as they rounded the tight mountain turn, was like a kick in the seat of the pants. The plowed snow looming above their VW gave the illusion of being in a bobsled run. The dazzling white landscape was more than unshielded eyes could bear, but here in the shade, Lara Johnson stared out the window in delightful awe. This weekend ski trip would be one of the high points of her life.
—opening paragraph of Slumber Party
Scene 1: Driving with Dana
Slumber Party opens with seniors Lara Johnson and Dana Miller in Dana’s car, headed off to meet up with some old friends for a weekend ski trip, along with sophomore new girl, Celeste Winston. Judging by their reactions to her driving, Dana has a wicked lead foot and Lara and Celeste are both on the more cautious side.
(In this case, by “more cautious,” I mean “don’t have a death wish” because Dana is driving like a maniac.)
Luckily for them, maybe, they get stopped by a bewhiskered ranger at a roadblock/avalanche—well, actually, a snowbank stops them before the ranger does, because of Dana’s aforementioned lack of Driving Chill—who informs them they’ll need to hike or ski the last three miles to their destination.
This proves to be a bit of an issue because Celeste has to avoid physical exertion due to her bad back—she talked the rest of the girls into including her on the trip so she could “enjoy the scenery”—and so she’s going to have to slog the three miles on foot, while Lara and Dana will whiz along on their cross-country skis.
They leave their keys with the ranger, who’ll make sure that their car gets moved down to the ski lodge—which, like, that’s some seriously full-service ranger-ing, I really don’t know if that’s in their purview??—and Lara thinks that’s a bit weird, but she rolls with it.
“There is a packed path yonder this ridge. Like I told your friends, you best be well stocked with food. By night, a granddaddy of a storm is going to hit.”
—Dialogue from the ranger, who is described as a “Colonel Sanders clone” and goes by… wait for it… “the colonel.” This book is set in California, but I can’t help imagining him with a really atrocious Maine accent, like Tom Bosley on Murder, She Wrote.
Two more notes from this scene:
Call me suspicious, but I ALWAYS think it’s ominous when a character insists on old friends getting together on a Specific Date. On the impending storm:
“I know, Dana. I read the papers, too. I told Nell we should wait until next weekend, but she insisted that it had to be this weekend. So did Rachael, for that matter.”
We haven’t met Rachael yet, but she and Lara are both in the running for homecoming queen:
Rachael would win hands down: tall, blond, tan—she looked like a cover girl. What could a short, dark-haired nobody with fifties bangs and a nose that was at least—despite what her friends said—a size too large against a Barbie Doll? Of course, personality wise, Rachael was not everyone’s dream queen.
…I honestly am not sure what fifties bangs are. For real, I did a Google Image search and pretty much every sort of bang imaginable popped up? And for that matter, what even is she trying to say with that line about the Barbie doll nose? Is her nose too big? Too small? It’s all very confusing.
The effort required to balance a duffle bag on her back, while simultaneously trying to recall seldom-used cross-country ski techniques, caused muscles to ache that Lara hadn’t even known she had. Yet as she paused to catch her breath and wipe off the beads of perspiration dripping into her eyes, she realized that she hadn’t felt this exhilarated in ages. The air was so crisp and sweet that it was like biting into a dessert. In every direction, the scenery could have been framed and pasted on a postcard. The flawless blue sky made it difficult to take seriously the warning of an approaching storm.
—Slumber Party, Chapter One
Scene Two: Skiing to the Party House
As they ski along—Celeste is walking, which makes me wonder about the pace they’re traveling at—Dana expresses hope that they’ll meet some guys this weekend, and Lara muses:
With a great deal of fondness, Lara had to admit that Dana’s face was one best loved by a mother. Yet Dana had no shortage of boyfriends, only a lack of ones that—as Dana put it—appreciated her from the neck up.
Which, wow. That is SOMETHING.
Like so many books from this era, the kids talk and act like it’s the 50s, or at least the idea of the 50s that’s in my brain from watching 50s and 60s-era teen movies:
She hadn’t gone out on a date in six weeks. At first she had thought that she was being too picky, but then again, she hadn’t said no to anybody.
I keep half-expecting them to talk about wanting to get pinned or something?
Dana decides that they need to have a party—with boys—so that they’ll get stranded overnight with the girls. They ask Celeste about her dating prospects, and she says she’s never gone out with a boy, and Dana presses her, and Things Get Dramatic, and again, Ominous:
Celeste looked at the ground. It seemed as if an envelope of sorrow had enfolded her. “Yeah, that’s why,” she said finally.
Lara thought that there was more to the matter. The doubt forced her to evaluate just how scant their knowledge of Celeste was.
AN ENVELOPE OF SORROW!!!! Calm down, Christopher Pike.
Actually, no, please don’t, this rules.
On what had been only the second day of school, Lara had been browsing in the library for something to read. Working at the local mall’s theaters during the week was an exercise in killing time. She had picked up a Stephen King horror novel and was reading the critics’ raves on the inside flap, when she noticed a slight, pale, auburn-haired girl, staring at either her or the book. What struck Lara from the first instant was the innocence of her expression.
—Slumber Party, Chapter One
Scene Three: Flashback to meeting Celeste
And now, we cut away to a flashback of Lara meeting Celeste for the first time:
Although the weather was warm, she was bundled up. Later Lara learned that Celeste always dressed this way.
Celeste says that she’s read all of Stephen King’s books, and then, when Lara asks her if they give her nightmares, she goes Full Gothic:
The girl did not appear to connect the questions with the reference to the horror books. “I used to have many dreams about—” She frowned. “Oh, I see. No, books never scare me.”
Celeste is a sophomore, Lara is a senior, and Lara takes her under her wing and to lunch:
Afterward Lara was not sure why she had felt such immediate warmth for Celeste. Perhaps it was the girl’s obvious frailness that had awakened a desire to protect.
Over lunch, Lara had asked why she had been staring at her. Celeste had replied, “You looked nice.”
Her tone had been filled with amazement.
Maybe it’s just the Gothic dialogue, but this is all starting to feel sort of like incest-free* V. C. Andrews?
______________________
*I mean, HOPEFULLY it’ll stay incest-free? YOU NEVER KNOW with ‘80s books.
And that’s it for this round! More next Thursday.
In the meantime, subscribe so that you don’t miss installments, and FOR REAL, I’d love to hear about your memories of reading (and watching!) horror as a tween and teen. I’m also always here if you’ve got recommendations.
Talk soon,
Leila
"YOU NEVER KNOW with '80's books."
No truer words...