---
category: ''
date: 2026-10-31 19:49:08 UTC-05:00
description: ''
link: ''
slug: choose-wisely
tags: ''
title: choose wisely
type: text
---

"Well, which do you want? A treat? Or a trick?"

"A trick." He is about fifteen. 

"Listen to me. Listen closely." I lower my voice and he leans in closer to hear. "Under no circumstances — under NO CIRCUMSTANCES, do you understand? — under no circumstances are you to look under your bed tonight. Do. Not. Sleeping is safe. Do not look underneath."

He steps away. The other teens and tweens in his group have already made up their minds. "Treat." "Treat." "Treat." "Treat." I hear the victim mutter, "I don't think that was a trick — I think it was a curse." Finally another young man is courageous: "Give me a trick."

"Listen to me," I say. "Listen closely. Under no circumstances — under NO CIRCUMSTANCES, do you understand? — under no circumstances are you to look under" (I point) "his bed tonight."

There is general laughter. The cursed child looks a little nervous.