Setting: A sunny afternoon in a Calgary park, mid-October. The trees are golden, and a few squirrels dart about as Liam and Ayesha stroll along a trail, passing a wild blackberry bush.
Liam: (slapping Ayesha’s hand away playfully) Whoa! Don’t even think about picking those.
Ayesha: (laughs) What? They’re perfectly ripe. Look at them—plump, juicy, and calling my name.
Liam: It’s after October 11. You know what that means.
Ayesha: (sighs) Let me guess. The devil’s claimed the berries?
Liam: Exactly. That’s how the old saying goes. You eat those now, you’re basically biting into evil.
Ayesha: (grinning) Liam, come on. We’re in Alberta, not a haunted forest in a fairy tale. That belief comes from British folklore—people used to say the devil spat on the berries after Michaelmas.
Liam: It migrated with settlers, just like marmite and weird chip flavours. Besides, have you tasted a blackberry after mid-October? They go sour, like something’s… off.
Ayesha: (picks one and eats it dramatically) Mmm. Nope. Tastes like free antioxidants to me.
Liam: You’re tempting fate. What if you have a nightmare tonight? Or your phone dies unexpectedly?
Ayesha: Or maybe that’s just what happens when you forget to charge it?
Liam: Okay, but last year? I picked some on October 13—just three berries. That night, I dropped my keys inside a storm drain. Explain that.
Ayesha: Coincidence. Or karma for ignoring the “Do Not Enter” sign. Remember? You climbed over a fence to get them!
Liam: Still. Nature has rules. Traditions exist for a reason.
Ayesha: Sure, many traditions are grounded in real observations—like “don’t eat shellfish in months without an R” made sense before refrigeration. But now? You think Lucifer himself is lurking in berry bushes waiting for the calendar to flip?
Liam: (shrugs) Look, not everything has to be proven in a lab. Some things you just feel. Like when you walk into a room and get a weird vibe.
Ayesha: Okay, vibes I get. But you’re assigning cosmic malice to fruit. That’s a stretch.
Liam: I like the mystery. It makes life more interesting. Keeps you respectful of nature, y’know?
Ayesha: I respect nature. That’s why I wash berries before I eat them—devils or no devils.
Liam: You’re so smug with your science. One day the Devil’s going to show up, arms crossed, like, “Really, Ayesha? Not even a little respect?”
Ayesha: And I’ll offer him a crumble and ask for a peer-reviewed study.
Liam: (laughing) You would. You’d probably lecture him on fungal decay versus supernatural corruption.
Ayesha: (mock-serious) Mold is a fungus, not a demonic curse. Science 101, Your Infernalness.
Liam: Okay, okay. But if you start hearing whispering voices tonight, I’m not picking up the phone.
Ayesha: Deal. But if you trip over your own shoelaces tomorrow, I’m blaming the berries.
Liam: That’s fair. Truce?
Ayesha: Truce. But I’m still taking a handful of these. Vitamin C doesn’t care about folklore.
Liam: Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. When your laptop crashes mid-Zoom call, I’ll be here… smugly eating devil-free grapes.
(They walk on, Ayesha popping blackberries into her mouth, Liam shaking his head in mock horror. The sun sets behind the trees, casting a golden light on their playful debate.)
Science Vs Superstition 
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