A Cautionary Tale

'They're there' she said,
to comfort him, at night,
before the covers were over his head
- as she waved and smiled and turned out the light.

'Their there,' he cried,
'not Johnny's!' Eyes shut tight,
after the scratching from the darker side
and he moaned and groaned the livelong night.

'There, there', they said,
'Poor Johnny's died of fright'
Without bunking off school, and better read,
he'd've survived and thrived with his grammar right.