A childhood belief about basements

When I was six and my sister was four, I told her that the water heater in our basement was an evil robot in bondage, and it hated her. I took her down to the basement, and held her in front of the water heater. It gurgled, as water heaters do. I said, "Listen to it - it hates you so much, it's making mad noises. Look what's holding it in place - nothing more than duct tape. Soon it will become furious and tear the tape loose, and come for you!". My sister ran screaming from the basement and hid in her bedroom closet, afraid to come out. She peed on herself, and only came out hours later.

Now my sister is an executive, and she makes seven times as much money a year as I do.