The Lie: I don’t know, we’ll just have to wait and see.

The Truth: We shouldn’t have to wait and see. We should already know. I’ve read this book to him no less than fifty times – why does he need to ask me how it ends? Is my son suffering some sort of juvenile early-onset Alzheimer’s? Or is it selective memory loss from the time I bumped his head on the car door two years ago? How can he remember the lyrics to every asinine Cartoon Network theme song but not remember how Corduroy ends? The girl buys the bear and takes him home. It’s totally predictable.

(That’s the other concern: his failure to recognize hackneyed story conventions. Even if I’d never read him the book before, his inability to see that ending coming a mile away would be equally troubling.)