Mira and the Moonlit Question — Under the paper stars tied to the crooked ash trees, Mira shook her pumpkin pail and listened for the clack of one cinnamon caramel. None. Read the full story →
Under the paper stars tied to the crooked ash trees, Mira shook her pumpkin pail and listened for the clack of one cinnamon caramel. None. Only jelly beans rattled like tiny bones. The candy stand at the far gate had them, so she stepped off the safe porch path and into the cemetery, where leaves scratched her ankles and the moon smelled cold, like rain on stone.
Halfway there, a headstone cleared its throat. “Spare a sweet for a question?” it whispered. Mira paid with her last chocolate bat. The name on the stone brightened, and a soft voice asked, “Why do children laugh when they are almost scared?” Mira followed the winding stones, thinking so hard she forgot the dark. At the gate, the candy keeper gave her a cinnamon caramel and a tiny silver star for the answer: “Because curiosity runs faster than fear.”
Mira hurried back, caramel warm in her palm, and tucked the silver star onto the whispering grave. “For next time,” she said. If you trace the path past the pumpkins, can you tell where curiosity first ran faster than fear?
