That Horrible Toxic Boy

...Roy!

"To those who knew him
-his friends-
we called him Roy.
To others he was known
as that horrible Toxic Boy.

He loved ammonia and asbestos,
and lots of cigarette smoke.
What he breathed in for air
would make other people choke!

His very favorite toy
was a can of aerosol spray;
he'd sit quietly and shake it,
and spray it all the day.

He'd stand inside the garage
in the early-morning frost,
waiting for the car to start
and fill him with exhaust.

The one and only time
I ever saw Toxic Boy cry
was when some sodium chloride
got into his eye.

One day for fresh air
they put him in the garden.

His face went deathly pale
and his body began to harden.

The final gasp of his short life
was sickly with despair.
Whoever thought that you could die
from breathing outdoor air?

As Roy's soul left his body
we all said a silent prayer.
It drifted up to heaven
and left a hole in the ozone layer."

© Tim Burton

This is pretty much my favorite poem/story in Tim Burton's book, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories. Which you all need to read. It's about "deformed" children and their comically horrible lives.

Lucky for you, I found an online version of the whole book and the illustrations...thanks to some Irish kid: http://homepage.eircom.net/~sebulbac/burton/home.html

You'd better click that...and this is Episode 2 of Stainboy, featuring Roy the Toxic Boy! (Danny's theme for him is awesome...) -->http://www.timburtoncollective.com/movies/stain02.swf

And here are some links to all of the six episodes of Stainboy: http://www.timburtoncollective.com/multimedia.html

There. I just dumped you with some MAJORLY FUNNY entertainment. Enjoy!

cray paas (sp?) watercolor pencils watercolors pencil on normal drawing paper.