Hi, I'm Levar Burton and this is Levar Burton Reads.

In every episode I handpick a different piece of short fiction and I read it to you.

The only thing these stories have in common is that I love them and I hope you will too.

Hi y'all, Levar here. I will be back with more episodes very soon but saying as how it's

meering Halloween, I wanted to rerun one of my favorite spooky stories from the podcast.

It's not a horror story, per se, but it is creepy and it is delicious.

The author, Ellen Klaigez, says it was inspired by her oldest and most vivid childhood memory,

listening to a kid's record that described the city underbelly of city life, something

she had not encountered in real life as a two or three year old.

This memory apparently haunted her for years and inspired this story.

I hope you like it and do look out for more Levar Burton Reads very soon.

Well y'all, our story today comes from the science fiction and fantasy author, Ellen Klaigez.

Now Ellen has been nominated or won just about every sci-fi or fantasy award out there and

she is exceptional at world building.

She has said that she has a memory like a lint trap, catching emotional details and textures

from her past and I got to tell you this is a story that captures a lot of the feelings

of being a small child, visiting a complete other world that's just down the street from

her own house.

The story is from Ellen's collection entitled Wicked Wonders and Wickedly Wonderful.

These stories are indeed.

Now children are naturally predisposed, I believe, to wonder.

They are literally seeing new things all the time, taking them in and considering them carefully.

...