A childhood belief about basements

When I was small we used to have a huge, damp basement beneath the house.
Our central heating system was in the basement and it used to snort and grumble.
Unfortunately our spare freezer was also downstairs. To reach the basement we had
to climb down 19 steps. There was a light switch at the top and bottom of the stairs.
Climbing down the stairs posed no problem as I could turn on the lights as I went.
The trip to the freezer to bring out bread or ice-cream was a nightmare. The freezer was
big enough for a child to fall into. I had to stand on a stool to reach the food inside.
Then I had to turn off the downstairs light ,leaving the dark empty basement at my back,
and the cetnral heating system glowing like a devil's eye in the corner. I had to sprint as fast
as I could up the stairs to the top to turn off the upstairs light. I was always convinced that if I looked back over my
shoulder while climbing the stairs I would see the devil in the boiler reaching out to catch my ankle as I ran.