Many thanks to E. B. Davis for inviting me to talk about the
genesis of my short story, “Disco Donna,” published this month in the Chesapeake Crimes: Homicidal Holidays anthology.
So, where did Disco Donna come from?
Urban legends fascinate me. Not so much the ones about
albino alligators in the sewers of New York City as much as tales of vanishing
hitchhikers or haunted Lovers Lanes. These stories often reflect the
preoccupations and fears of those living where the events reportedly took
place.
One aspect of urban legends that especially intrigues is the
associated phenomena of legend tripping. Did your teenage self – on a dare – ever
go to a supposedly haunted house or cave where doomed lovers died, or an unholy
rite occurred, or a monster lurked? If you did, you, my friend, legend tripped.
Teens in my area go to the Bunny Man Bridge, site of
the urban legend of Fairfax County, Virginia, the Bunny Man. Years ago – no one
is exactly sure when – an escapee from an asylum (naturally), wearing a bunny
suit, menaced parking kids with a machete on the isolated, lonely roads near an
abandoned railroad bridge. The usual stew of insanity, fear, death, sex, and a
machete for good measure make this an enduring tale, and teens still dare each
other to visit the creepy bridge.
At the same time I was mulling over story ideas, some
friends and I were talking about reputations. Do teens worry about their
reputation anymore? I flashed back to long ago high school days when many girls
(sign of the times – it was usually only girls) had a “bad reputation” due to
their dating history.
That’s when beautiful, wild Disco Donna Demonte danced—to a
Bee Gees tune—onto the page. Fictional Donna is a high school student in the seventies,
bad rep, too hot to care, discovered murdered in her bed the morning after Halloween.
She had been strangled and is clutching a single, red rose. Rumors swirl about
the killer: Could it have been the high school football captain? Devil worshippers? The ever reliable escapee from an insane asylum? As years pass and
her murderer is never found, kids from the town dare each other to visit the
abandoned house where Disco Donna was murdered.
Flash forward to the present day, to some high school girls in
a vintage clothing store trying to decide what to be for Halloween. One girl
decides to dress as the town’s most famous citizen—Disco Donna. That innocent
decision sets in motion events that finally unmask Disco Donna’s killer.
Hope you enjoy the story. Just remember to put some Donna
Summer on the stereo, lock the door, and read with the lights on.
I am grateful to the wonderful editors of the anthology:
Barb Goffman, Donna Andrews (not a model for Disco Donna!) and Marcia Talley.
These brilliant criminal minds were there when I needed them to fill plot
holes, polish prose, and vanquish tense shifts. A million thanks, ladies.
Do you have a favorite urban legend? Did you ever legend trip?
