My Girl teaches us about grief and the trials of puberty, but it also slips in a lesson on all-consuming fear. When Vada's ball rolls down the steps into her father's embalming room, Vada descends down into the basement to retrieve it, but Shelly passes by the door and closes it, accidentally trapping the young girl inside. Vada promptly freaks out, and her fear is so visceral that it still haunts us to this day.