The Corn Maze or The Say Yes Club (Encore)

Kathryn Nicolai (0:01)

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Welcome to Bedtime Stories for Everyone, in which nothing much happens. You feel good, and then you fall asleep. I'm Kathryn Nicolai. I write and read all the stories you hear on Nothing Much Happens. Audio engineering is by Bob Wittersheim. We are bringing you an Encore episode tonight, meaning that this story originally aired at some point in the past. It could have been recorded with different equipment in a different location. And since I'm a person, and not a computer, I sometimes sound just slightly different. But the stories are always soothing and family-friendly, and our wishes for you are always deep breaths and sweet dreams. Now, I have a simple and proven way to help you sleep. The story I have for you sort of rests your mind into a groove, like a needle on a record. The steady sound of my voice on the soft story lulls your thinking mind into a place where sleep happens within moments. If you wake in the night and find your record spinning, please don't hesitate to start the story over again. I'll tell the story twice, going a little slower the second time through. This is a kind of brain training, so be patient if you are new to it. The conditioning will grow stronger with practice. Our story tonight is called The Corn Maze or The Say Yes Club, and it's a story about a trip out into the country as the leaves fall. It's also about the smell of dried corn stalks, kettle corn, and wood chips, and finding a group of friends to have adventures with. Did you know that three out of four US homes have toxic chemicals in their tap water? And here's the scary part. The water can look crystal clear and still be full of contaminants, things that can mess with your hormones, your energy, even your long-term health. And the standard fridge and pitcher filters don't do much to stop it. That's why I love my Aqua True. It's a countertop water purifier that uses a patented four-stage reverse osmosis system to remove 84 different contaminants, things like chlorine, lead, forever chemicals and microplastics. It goes way beyond the ordinary. No plumbing, no installation, just fresh, safe water at the push of a button. And let me tell you, I've become a bit of an Aqua True evangelist. After I got mine, first my mom asked about it, she got one, and then my friend did, she got one as well. It's that convincing once you taste the difference. And when I accidentally ordered the wrong filters, absolutely my fault, user error, their customer service was unbelievably kind. I sent one email, and within a half an hour, I had a tracking number for the correct filters. Aqua True has been featured in Business Insider, Popular Science, and was named Best Countertop Water Filter by Good Housekeeping. And 98% of customers say their water is cleaner, safer, and healthier. I'm with them. So here's your chance. Go to aquatrue.com right now and get 20% off your purifier with promo code NOTHING MUCH. Aqua True even comes with a 30-day best tasting water guarantee. That's aquatrue, A-Q-U-A-T-R-U ,.com. Promo code N-O-T-H-I-N-G-M-U-C-H.

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So, lights out, set down your device, snuggle into your sheets, and feel your whole body relax into the bed. You are exactly where you're supposed to be right now, and nothing more is needed of you tonight. You can let it all go. Really. Take a deep breath in through your nose.

Let it out your mouth.

Nice. One more. Breathe in.

And out.

Good. The Corn Maze or The Say Yes Club. We were driving out through the country on our way to the maze. And it was a perfect day for the drive. Golden afternoon light shining on the changing leaves, with clear blue skies and a bit of a nip in the air. The land was rolling here, so different from the flat streets in downtown. And as we rode slowly up a low hill and down the other side, I imagined myself on a very tranquil roller coaster, whose job was not to thrill, but to delight. To give the passenger time to take in beautiful views, to spot the farmhouses in the distance, to smile at the rafter of turkeys picking their way through a tilled wheat field, and admire the rolled hay bales scattered over the landscape. I watched it all from the back seat as the chatter of my friends melted into soft background noise. I was thinking of a childhood memory. It was a bit foggy. The details weren't clear, but the emotion around it was. A Halloween hayride with the neighbor kids at the Nature Center. I remembered the feeling of the straw under my hands as I climbed up to scramble to a seat beside my friends. The electric excitement we shared, as we were jostled together by the slow takeoff of the tractor. I don't think it had been at all scary, more halloweeny, with carved pumpkins along the trail, lights in the trees and owls hooting in the darkness. But to us then, it had been the thrill of the season. We'd gone home with treat bags full of candy, and a whole caramel apple. And all these years later, when I thought back on it, I still felt a curl of excitement in my stomach. A smile spread over my face from the fun of that evening. Now, here I was on a grown-up variation of it. Our little car was packed and we were going to walk the corn maze. Our circle of friends had all met through a sort of unofficial club. We called it the Friendsgiving Club or sometimes the Say Yes Club. A few years ago, some folks had started a friendsgiving tradition, a dinner that was open to anyone and grew bigger and bigger till it filled the community center downtown each fourth Thursday of November.