125. Knock Knock, Open Wide – Neil Sharpson

Irish folklore, but make it a conspiracy involving a creepy sounding children’s program with a box that only opens if someone makes the little goat Puckeen inside mad. But he’s not really just a goat, clearly. And that’s not the only part of the folklore making an appearance because they also have a very off-putting situation with a corpse that is also part of the conspiracy and poor soul Etain, who just got engaged with a very unique ring, is going to get to find the corpse, which has been nibbled on by angry dogs. So instead of leaving the corpse where it is for an inevitable investigation and finding a phone to call the Gardai and just mention to them it’s been nibbled on, she puts the corpse in the back of her mom’s car and drives it to the nearest house, a not good place to be. This action essentially ruins her life for the years to come.

Her children, one of whom goes missing as a child and has done a school visit at the very TV show with the boxed goat, are also not having a good time. Not at all really. Her daughter who didn’t disappear was not the one Etain liked and so she grows up to be part of the drama society at her university. That’s not the worst of it, she mostly thinks she’s utterly unlovable because that’s the message she’s received from her mother her entire life and then she loves ’em and leaves ’em until she finds Betty, who she simply cannot leave even though she tries really hard to be awful about it.

It’s a good story overall, read very quickly for me, and I’m not entirely sure about the resolution still. I was a little surprised there wasn’t another chapter or some more information about the missing journalist, who was quite the character, before it was all over and tidied. I guess that’s changelings for you.

Murderface and Belvedere know whether or not Belvedere’s a changeling. I know he never went missing as a child because for most of his actual piggy childhood we all lived in the same room.