The podcast narrator was the best part of the listening. In the intro, she talked about the theory that our brains get filled up with so many stories, that by the time we get older it's hard for a new one to really claim a spot. That when we are 11 years old, all the stories are amazing and memorable but as and adult, it's a bit harder. She was excited to introduce this particular story because this story is that for her. It is one that as an adult, hits all the right buttons and claimed a permanent spot. How could I not be excited? Oh and it's a World Fantasy Award winner.

meh.

It's one of those stories that doesn't make sense. Twin girls are being babysat by a young lady who used to live in their house. But she isn't old. Is she a ghost? Prior to that the girls were in the woods and one said she saw a lady, the other said she saw a snake. Those are two very different sized things. It ends with the father coming home after dating a lady he met in the woods and the girls are hiding from him because the babysitter got them all worked up about the hat (from the title) which had teeth and bit her. She was saying it was the owner of the hat coming for the little girls but I think the father got bit by a snake and needed some help. Did the ghost set him up? Why? ( )

Previously read in Link's 'Pretty Monsters' collection, as well as in 'Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic" and in a Year's Best collection. This is a well-anthologized story! It's also available free on Link's site: http://www.kellylink.net/fiction/link-specialist.htm

Creepy! Creepy, creepy, creeeeeepy! If you buy, and move into a haunted house, you PROBABLY should check the babysitter's references, and maybe her ID, too, before you leave your young children with her. Better yet, just get the hell out of that house before it's too late. ( )