Keeley is an understudy for every job in the carnival, but whenever possible, she angles to be working the Tunnel of Terror. She has great ideas for making it scarier. Like, one of the middle carts could just have dummies in it, and then burst into flames! She’s sure she could do it without burning anything down.

But Keeley’s mother turns a jaundiced ear to her brilliance. “They don’t want to be frightened,” she sighs, sweating a glass of iced tea. “They want to laugh at it. Now go check the Octopus.”

Keeley sullenly tightens bolts, imagining carts filled with piddle.