The affluent couple raised their baby
with the power of belief.
Every night they’d tuck him in and say:
“You’re braver, stronger, and smarter than anyone.”
He grew
to know these things to be 100 percent true.
(Even when others did not.)
One night there’s a racket outside.
The boy sneaks out.
There’s a bear going through his trash.
“Go away!” the boy yells.
The bear looks down at him, stupefied.
“I’m smarter than you, I’m stronger than you, I’m–”
The bear devours the boy.
(He isn’t fluent in human language.)