Trick or Treat (Encore)

Speaker 2 Get more, nothing much happens with bonus episodes, extra long stories, and ad-free listening, all while supporting the show you love. Subscribe now.

Speaker 2 The holidays can be a lot, can't they? For business owners, especially, this time of year can go from cozy to chaotic fast.

Speaker 2 I remember my first holiday rush.

Speaker 1 I was so worried something would break The website, the checkout, my own brain.

Speaker 2 But that's when I learned what a difference the right tools can make. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, about 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S.

Speaker 2 Whether you're just opening your virtual doors or you're running a full-blown store, Shopify helps you take the holidays from chaos to cha-ching.

Speaker 2 There are thousands of templates and tools to make your site beautiful and functional.

Speaker 2 AI tools to help write product descriptions and headlines, and built-in marketing support so your voice doesn't get lost in the noise.

Speaker 2 Plus, you can relax knowing Shopify's award-winning customer service is there 24/7 if anything comes up. So make this Black Friday one to remember.

Speaker 2 Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com/slash nothing much.

Speaker 2 That's shopify.com/slash nothing nothing much.

Speaker 2 The holidays can be a lot, can't they?

Speaker 2 For business owners especially, this time of year can go from cozy to chaotic fast.

Speaker 2 I remember my first holiday rush.

Speaker 1 I was so worried something would break the website to check out my own brain.

Speaker 2 But that's when I learned what a difference the right tools can make. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world, about 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S.

Speaker 2 Whether you're just opening your virtual doors or you're running a full-blown store, Shopify helps you take the holidays from chaos to cha-ching.

Speaker 2 There are thousands of templates and tools to make your site beautiful and functional.

Speaker 2 AI tools to help write product descriptions and headlines and built-in marketing support so your voice doesn't get lost in the noise.

Speaker 2 Plus, you can relax knowing Shopify's award-winning customer service is there 24-7 if anything comes up. So make this Black Friday one to remember.

Speaker 2 Sign up for your free trial today at shopify.com slash nothing much.

Speaker 2 That's shopify.com slash nothing much.

Speaker 1 Welcome to bedtime stories for everyone,

Speaker 1 in which

Speaker 1 nothing much happens.

Speaker 1 You feel good,

Speaker 1 and then

Speaker 1 you fall asleep.

Speaker 1 I'm Catherine Nikolai.

Speaker 1 I write and read all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens.

Speaker 1 Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.

Speaker 1 We are bringing you an encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment in a different location.

Speaker 1 And since I'm a person and not a computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different.

Speaker 1 But the stories are always soothing and family-friendly. And our wishes for you are always deep rest.
and sweet dreams.

Speaker 1 Let me say a bit about how this podcast works.

Speaker 1 Just as your body needs a bed to sleep in, your mind needs a place to rest.

Speaker 1 Someplace calm and safe and simple.

Speaker 1 And that's what the story is, a place to rest your mind.

Speaker 1 I'll tell it twice and I'll go a little bit slower the second time through.

Speaker 1 As you listen, pull the details of the story around you like a blanket.

Speaker 1 Imagine yourself in the story, and before you know it,

Speaker 1 likely before I finish reading,

Speaker 1 you'll be deeply and peacefully asleep.

Speaker 1 If you wake again in the middle of the night,

Speaker 1 walk yourself back through any of the details from the story that you can remember.

Speaker 1 It'll put your mind right back into that nest,

Speaker 1 and you'll be waking up tomorrow,

Speaker 1 feeling relaxed and refreshed.

Speaker 1 Our story tonight is called Trick or Treat.

Speaker 1 And it's a story about roaming the streets on all Hallows Eves.

Speaker 1 It's also about a gust of wind that turns you around,

Speaker 1 lit porch lights,

Speaker 1 and making memories with the people you love.

Speaker 1 Now

Speaker 1 it's time to settle in and set yourself up for sleep.

Speaker 1 Turn off the light.

Speaker 1 Set aside anything you've been looking at or working on.

Speaker 1 Adjust your pillows and comforter until you feel

Speaker 1 completely at ease.

Speaker 1 you are about to fall asleep, and you will sleep deeply all night.

Speaker 1 Take a deep breath in through your nose

Speaker 1 and sigh through the mouth

Speaker 1 again.

Speaker 1 Breathe in

Speaker 1 and out.

Speaker 1 Good.

Speaker 1 Trick or treat.

Speaker 1 The sunlight was almost gone.

Speaker 1 In another ten minutes, it would be dark.

Speaker 1 I stepped out onto the porch

Speaker 1 and looked up and down the street.

Speaker 1 There were jack-o-lanterns lit on front steps and balancing on porch railings at nearly every house.

Speaker 1 I heard my neighbor's front door open a moment later.

Speaker 1 She flicked on her porch light

Speaker 1 and stepped into the halo at cast,

Speaker 1 dressed in a high-waisted scarlet coloured dress,

Speaker 1 a tiara on her head,

Speaker 1 and a heart-shaped jewel on a chain around her neck.

Speaker 1 She struck a match,

Speaker 1 and lifted the stem cap of the giant pumpkin on her top step,

Speaker 1 and lit the candle inside.

Speaker 1 I waited for her to shake out the match,

Speaker 1 for the fire to turn to smoke,

Speaker 1 rippling away from her fingers,

Speaker 1 then called out to her

Speaker 1 Are you the queen of hearts again?

Speaker 1 That makes three years in a row, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 She laughed as she looked over at me and adjusted her crown.

Speaker 1 She called something back,

Speaker 1 but a gust of wind rolled down the street,

Speaker 1 and I barely heard her over the sound of fallen leaves caught in its pull.

Speaker 1 I thought she'd said something about it being the house's favorite.

Speaker 1 But when I looked back at her porch,

Speaker 1 she'd already gone inside.

Speaker 1 I scanned up and down the street again,

Speaker 1 and far at the end of the next block, I saw a few trick-or-treaters setting off.

Speaker 1 It was time.

Speaker 1 I set a large bowl of candy on a table by my front door,

Speaker 1 stretching a bit of fake cobweb over the top to give the littles a thrill.

Speaker 1 Usually I'd stay and hand out candy till all the porch lights had gone out.

Speaker 1 But this year I had a different job.

Speaker 1 My nephews had asked for me especially,

Speaker 1 had said this year,

Speaker 1 couldn't Auntie take them?

Speaker 1 I'd buffed my nails on my shirt, pleased that I must have finally achieved what I'd set out for since they were babies,

Speaker 1 to be a cool aunt.

Speaker 1 And in the vein of being a cool aunt,

Speaker 1 had agreed to let them pick out my costume.

Speaker 1 The youngest had lost one of his front teeth the day before,

Speaker 1 and it seemed to offer some inspiration.

Speaker 1 He'd pointed at me and said, Tooth fairy.

Speaker 1 And that was that.

Speaker 1 Well,

Speaker 1 I'd rather have been a pirate, but had already shaken hands on the deal.

Speaker 1 So I'd pulled together a pink tutu

Speaker 1 that I wore over my jeans and sneakers,

Speaker 1 made a wand from a dowel with a cardboard cut out of a tooth stuck on top,

Speaker 1 and found some sparkly fairy wings at the resale shop,

Speaker 1 which were helpfully already sewn onto the back of a jacket.

Speaker 1 It was a varsity jacket, in fact,

Speaker 1 and I'd taped a hello, my name is, sticker

Speaker 1 over the previous owner's name

Speaker 1 and written in bright orange sharpie,

Speaker 1 Maxine T Fairy.

Speaker 1 I laughed at it as I did it.

Speaker 1 It was a bit of family lore,

Speaker 1 a story our mother had always told us

Speaker 1 that the tooth fairy's name name was Maxine.

Speaker 1 It was one of those things that you took for true

Speaker 1 for a universally known fact

Speaker 1 and only realized later wasn't any such thing.

Speaker 1 For example,

Speaker 1 when saying it out loud in front of a group of adults at a party.

Speaker 1 Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Speaker 1 Now,

Speaker 1 the full night was upon us.

Speaker 1 The candy bowl was full, and I was kitted up

Speaker 1 and ready to be on my way.

Speaker 1 Luckily, my nephews lived just around the corner.

Speaker 1 I hopped down the front steps and out onto the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 Already, Already the number of trick-or-treaters had tripled,

Speaker 1 and up and down the street doors were opening

Speaker 1 and letting all sorts of characters out into the chilly night.

Speaker 1 I passed superheroes and zombies,

Speaker 1 clever witches and silver-whiskered cats,

Speaker 1 little clumps of excited, roving kids with orange pails or pillowcases in their hands.

Speaker 1 Their grown-ups attempting to let them take the lead,

Speaker 1 but not get too far ahead.

Speaker 1 I guessed that was a constant process in parenting.

Speaker 1 At the corner, the wind picked up again in a sudden gust,

Speaker 1 and the trick-or-treaters gave shrieks of happy fright

Speaker 1 and hustled up walkways to call out at the lit front doors.

Speaker 1 That gust of wind had spun me around,

Speaker 1 and I looked up at the house on the corner.

Speaker 1 There wasn't a light on

Speaker 1 in the whole house.

Speaker 1 And as I thought about it,

Speaker 1 I realized I couldn't remember ever seeing anyone there.

Speaker 1 It was strange.

Speaker 1 In this neighborhood, I knew most everyone.

Speaker 1 We had block parties

Speaker 1 and did spring clean up together every year,

Speaker 1 sweeping out the gutters

Speaker 1 and planting impatience around the trees in the avenue.

Speaker 1 But it was almost as though

Speaker 1 I'd barely ever noticed this house.

Speaker 1 It had a long cobblestone drive

Speaker 1 and a pretty sweeping roof line over a front porch

Speaker 1 where a swing was hung.

Speaker 1 It was still swinging from the gust of wind that had blown me around,

Speaker 1 although the rest of the house was very still

Speaker 1 and quiet.

Speaker 1 Right in the corner of the yard, at the edge of the sidewalk,

Speaker 1 was a tiny lending library.

Speaker 1 And even in the dim light,

Speaker 1 I could see it was stocked with books.

Speaker 1 I peered in a little closer

Speaker 1 and saw a small round pumpkin,

Speaker 1 no bigger than an apple,

Speaker 1 carved with a crooked grin, sitting on the shelf.

Speaker 1 The wind came again in a cool blast

Speaker 1 and seemed to push me on

Speaker 1 around the corner toward my nephews,

Speaker 1 and the house was forgotten again.

Speaker 1 I picked up my pace,

Speaker 1 knowing that they must be eager

Speaker 1 and excited to get out on the street.

Speaker 1 I was no less excited.

Speaker 1 I knew as they got older they'd rightly spend more time with friends,

Speaker 1 eventually head out on Halloween nights without me,

Speaker 1 without their dads.

Speaker 1 So tonight was special, and I meant to enjoy every minute of it.

Speaker 1 Soon I was bounding up their front steps,

Speaker 1 admiring their four pumpkins carved with varying degrees of creative skill,

Speaker 1 but all of them fun to look at,

Speaker 1 and hid out behind a couple taller kids, holding out their bags to my brother on the doorstep.

Speaker 1 When they turned turned back toward the sidewalk,

Speaker 1 already bargaining, trading treats to get their favorite,

Speaker 1 I popped up and held out my hand, saying,

Speaker 1 Trick-or-treat.

Speaker 1 My brother laughed at my costume and handed me a bag of sweet and salty popcorn. Treat, he said, and gave me his best big brother stare.

Speaker 1 The boys saw me through the open door and rushed out with their bags.

Speaker 1 Tooth fairy, called the youngest in approval.

Speaker 1 He was dressed in a furry blonde suit with floppy ears and a tail.

Speaker 1 I'm the dog, he said, pointing to their giant retriever.

Speaker 1 who sat thumping her tail onto the carpet and being a very good girl.

Speaker 1 The oldest was a wizard, though he didn't have a pointed hat or spangled cloak.

Speaker 1 When I asked him about it, he explained to me that that was a very old-fashioned idea of wizards, and that I had a lot to learn.

Speaker 1 He read my name tag

Speaker 1 and gave me a questioning look.

Speaker 1 How do you know the Tooth Fairy's name is Maxine?

Speaker 1 I squatted down beside him and whispered,

Speaker 1 Everyone knows that. Ask your dad.

Speaker 1 Dad,

Speaker 1 what's the Tooth Fairy's name?

Speaker 1 My brother, hero that he is,

Speaker 1 while still handing out popcorn to the next batch of pirates and ghosts, said immediately, Maxine.

Speaker 1 They both looked up at me in wonder.

Speaker 1 Cool, aunt.

Speaker 1 And out into the night we went.

Speaker 1 Trick or treat

Speaker 1 The sunlight was almost gone.

Speaker 1 In another ten minutes, it would be dark.

Speaker 1 I stepped out onto the porch

Speaker 1 and looked up and down the street.

Speaker 1 There were jack-o-lanterns lit on front steps

Speaker 1 and balancing on porch railings at nearly every house.

Speaker 1 I heard my neighbor's front door open a moment later.

Speaker 1 She flicked on her porch light

Speaker 1 and stepped into the halo it cast,

Speaker 1 dressed in a high-waisted, scarlet-colored dress,

Speaker 1 a tiara on her head,

Speaker 1 and a heart-shaped jewel on a chain around her neck.

Speaker 1 She struck a match and lifted the stem cap of the giant pumpkin on her top step

Speaker 1 and lit the candle inside.

Speaker 1 I waited for her to shake out the match,

Speaker 1 for the fire to turn to smoke,

Speaker 1 rippling away from her fingers,

Speaker 1 then called out to her.

Speaker 1 Are you the queen of hearts again?

Speaker 1 That makes three years in a row, doesn't it?

Speaker 1 She laughed as she looked over at me and adjusted her crown.

Speaker 1 She called something back,

Speaker 1 but a gust of wind rolled down the street,

Speaker 1 and I barely heard her over the sound of fallen leaves caught in its pull.

Speaker 1 I thought she'd said something

Speaker 1 about it being

Speaker 1 the house's favorite.

Speaker 1 But when I looked back at her porch

Speaker 1 she'd already gone back inside

Speaker 1 I scanned up and down the street again

Speaker 1 and far at the end of the next block

Speaker 1 I saw a few trick or treaters setting off

Speaker 1 it was time

Speaker 1 I set a large bowl of candy on a table by my front door,

Speaker 1 stretching a bit of fake cobweb over the top

Speaker 1 to give the littles a thrill.

Speaker 1 Usually, I'd stay and hand out candy

Speaker 1 till all the porch lights had gone out.

Speaker 1 But this year, I had a different job.

Speaker 1 My nephews had asked for me especially,

Speaker 1 had said this year,

Speaker 1 couldn't Auntie take them.

Speaker 1 I'd buffed my nails on my shirt,

Speaker 1 pleased that I must have finally achieved what I'd set out for since they were babies

Speaker 1 to be a cool aunt,

Speaker 1 and in the vein of being a cool aunt,

Speaker 1 had agreed to let them pick out my costume.

Speaker 1 The youngest had lost one of his front teeth the day before,

Speaker 1 and it seemed to offer some inspiration.

Speaker 1 He'd pointed at me and and said,

Speaker 1 Tooth fairy,

Speaker 1 and that was that.

Speaker 1 Well, I'd rather have been a pirate,

Speaker 1 but had already shaken hands on the deal.

Speaker 1 So I pulled together a pink tutu that I wore over my jeans and sneakers,

Speaker 1 made a wand from a dowel with a cardboard cut out of a tooth stuck on top

Speaker 1 and found some sparkly fairy wings at the resale shop,

Speaker 1 which were helpfully already sewn onto the back of a jacket.

Speaker 1 It was a varsity jacket, in fact.

Speaker 1 And I'd taped a hello, my name is, sticker, over the previous owner's name, and written in bright orange sharpie

Speaker 1 Maxine T

Speaker 1 Fairy.

Speaker 1 I laughed as I did it.

Speaker 1 It was a bit of family lore,

Speaker 1 a story

Speaker 1 our mother had always told us that the tooth fairy's name was

Speaker 1 Maxine.

Speaker 1 It was one of those things that

Speaker 1 you took for true

Speaker 1 for a universally known fact

Speaker 1 and only realized later wasn't any such thing.

Speaker 1 For example, when saying it out loud in front of a group of adults at a party.

Speaker 1 Hypothetically speaking, of course.

Speaker 1 Now

Speaker 1 the full night was upon us.

Speaker 1 The candy bowl was full,

Speaker 1 and I was kitted up and ready to be on my way.

Speaker 1 Luckily, my nephews lived just around the corner.

Speaker 1 I hopped down the front steps and out onto the sidewalk.

Speaker 1 Already, the number of trick-or-treaters had tripled,

Speaker 1 and up and down the street

Speaker 1 doors were opening

Speaker 1 and letting all sorts of characters out into the chilly night air.

Speaker 1 I passed superheroes and zombies, clever witches, and silver whiskered cats,

Speaker 1 little clumps of excited, roving kids

Speaker 1 with orange pails or pillowcases in their hands.

Speaker 1 Their grown-ups attempting to let them take the lead,

Speaker 1 but

Speaker 1 not get too far ahead.

Speaker 1 I guessed that was a constant process in parenting.

Speaker 1 At the corner,

Speaker 1 the wind picked up again

Speaker 1 in a sudden gust,

Speaker 1 and the trick or treaters gave happy shrieks of fright,

Speaker 1 and hustled up walkways

Speaker 1 to call out at the lit front doors.

Speaker 1 The gust of wind had spun me around,

Speaker 1 and I looked up at the house on the corner.

Speaker 1 There wasn't a light on in the whole house

Speaker 1 and

Speaker 1 as I thought about it

Speaker 1 I realized I couldn't remember ever seeing anyone there.

Speaker 1 It was strange.

Speaker 1 In this neighborhood, I knew most everyone.

Speaker 1 We had block parties

Speaker 1 and did spring cleanup together every year,

Speaker 1 sweeping out the gutters and planting impatience around the trees in the avenue.

Speaker 1 But

Speaker 1 it was almost as though I'd barely ever noticed this house.

Speaker 1 It had a long cobblestone drive

Speaker 1 and a pretty sweeping roof line over a front porch

Speaker 1 where a swing was hung.

Speaker 1 It was still swinging from the gust of wind that had blown me around,

Speaker 1 Although the rest of the house was still

Speaker 1 and quiet,

Speaker 1 right in the corner of the yard,

Speaker 1 at the edge of the sidewalk,

Speaker 1 was a tiny lending library.

Speaker 1 And even in the dim light,

Speaker 1 I could see

Speaker 1 it was stocked with books.

Speaker 1 I peered in a little closer

Speaker 1 and saw a small round pumpkin,

Speaker 1 no bigger than an apple,

Speaker 1 carved with a crooked grin,

Speaker 1 sitting on the shelf.

Speaker 1 The wind came again in a cool blast

Speaker 1 and seemed to push me on around the corner toward my nephews

Speaker 1 when the house was forgotten again.

Speaker 1 I picked up my pace,

Speaker 1 knowing they must be eager

Speaker 1 and excited to get out onto the street.

Speaker 1 I was no less excited.

Speaker 1 I knew as they got older,

Speaker 1 they'd rightly

Speaker 1 spend more time with friends,

Speaker 1 eventually head out on Halloween nights without me,

Speaker 1 without their dads.

Speaker 1 So tonight was special,

Speaker 1 and I meant to enjoy

Speaker 1 every minute of it.

Speaker 1 Soon I was bounding up their front steps,

Speaker 1 admiring their four pumpkins, carved with varying degrees of creative skill,

Speaker 1 but all of them fun to look at

Speaker 1 and hid out

Speaker 1 behind a couple taller kids

Speaker 1 holding out their bags to my brother on the doorstep

Speaker 1 when they turned back toward the sidewalk,

Speaker 1 already bargaining,

Speaker 1 trading treats to get their favorites.

Speaker 1 I popped up

Speaker 1 and held out my hand, saying,

Speaker 1 Trick or treat.

Speaker 1 My brother laughed at my costume,

Speaker 1 and handed me a bag of sweet and salty popcorn.

Speaker 1 Treat,

Speaker 1 he said, and gave me his best big brother stare.

Speaker 1 The boys saw me through the open door

Speaker 1 and rushed out with their bags.

Speaker 1 Tooth Fairy, called the youngest in approval.

Speaker 1 He was dressed in a furry blonde suit

Speaker 1 with floppy ears and a tail.

Speaker 1 I'm the dog, he said, pointing to their giant retriever,

Speaker 1 who sat thumping her tail onto the carpet and being a very good girl.

Speaker 1 The oldest was a wizard,

Speaker 1 though he didn't have a pointed hat or spangled cloak.

Speaker 1 When I asked him about it, he explained to me

Speaker 1 that was a very old-fashioned idea of wizards, and that I had a lot to learn.

Speaker 1 He read my name tag

Speaker 1 and gave me a questioning look.

Speaker 1 How do you know the Tooth Fairy's name is Maxine?

Speaker 1 I squatted down beside him and whispered,

Speaker 1 Everyone knows that.

Speaker 1 Ask your dad.

Speaker 1 Dad,

Speaker 1 what's the Tooth Fairy's name?

Speaker 1 My brother,

Speaker 1 hero that he is,

Speaker 1 while still handing out popcorn to the next batch of pirates and ghosts, said immediately

Speaker 1 Maxine.

Speaker 1 They both looked up at me in wonder,

Speaker 1 cool aunt,

Speaker 1 and out into the night

Speaker 1 we went,

Speaker 1 sweet dreams.