The TV Kid

The only thing Lennie likes better than watching TV is investigating the empty cottages on the lake - until one day, a rattlesnake changes all that.

Every book has its own special problems. With the TV kid I wanted to use real TV commercials, only I had to have permission from the sponsor. Some of them wouldn't give permission and I'd have to sit, like Lennie, in front of the TV again and again.

I had a friend who was bitten by a rattlesnake, and I knew how many shots she'd had and what colors her leg turned, etc, and when a writer gets stuff like that, she's going to use it. I was waiting for just the right character and situation, and when Lennie crawled under that house, I said, "Sorry, Lennie, it's going to be you."