The Door

The picture suddenly reduced to a single point and disappeared from the screen.

“Dad! I was watching that!”

“Well, now you’re not.  Run along then and do something else.”

“But Dad, I want to watch it!  It was just getting to the good part.”

“It’s all rubbish.  You should be outside, getting some fresh air; not sitting in here turning your mind to mush with these science fiction shows.”  The older man shooed the boy off the couch and sat down.  He crossed his legs and picked up the local newspaper.

“Dad…”

“I don’t want to hear it.  Go on then, shoo boy.  Some sunshine will do you good.”

The boy walked outside and slammed the door shut.  He sat down in a shadow on the back porch.  “Sunshine will do me good.  Well I’ll show him!  I’ll just sit here and not do anything useful.”  The boy sulked as the sun danced on the leaves of the trees.  A lonely cicada screamed in the next yard over and the birds sang in harmony.  The boy almost gave in to the flittering butterfly’s taunting movement when he spotted an unfamiliar man strolling through his backyard.

The man looked rather lost as he looked up into the trees.  He did not even notice the little boy in the shadow.  “Where could it have gone?  O confound it all, it can’t have gotten too far away!”  The man suddenly dropped to his hands and knees and put his ear to the ground, his head turned away from the house.  The boy got up and moved closer, hiding behind a tree when the man stood back up.  “Well, this is rather disappointing.  I really thought that it wasn’t going to disappear again.  I suppose if I just walk around a bit I’ll walk into it.”  At this point, the strange man’s gaze drifted to the tree.  “Hello? What have we here?  I do say, come on out, little one.  Who might you be?”

The little boy cautiously stepped out from behind the tree.  “My name is Peter,” he said timidly.

“I see, so you have a name.  And what are you?”

“I’m just a boy, sir.  I live in that house there.”

“A boy.  What kind of boy?”

“Um… the regular kind, I suppose.”

“A regular boy named Peter, well I’m glad to have met you.  Now have you seen anything strange around here lately, Peter?”

“No sir, nothing strange here.  Well other than you, no offense, sir.”

“None taken, none taken.”  He stood and pondered for a moment.

“What are you looking for?”

“What?”

“You seemed to be looking for something, what is it?”

“What indeed.  Well I wish I could tell you, but I don’t think you’d quite believe me.”

“I might.  You never know.  I do try to keep an open mind.”

“Hmm… An open mind.  Might not want to do that, something may get in.”  The man started to walk away and Peter followed.  The man suddenly stopped short, like he’d run into a wall.  “Ow, my head.  Well I guess I’ve found it!”

“What is it?  I don’t see anything.”

“Are you still here?  Well, you see, this is a door, and I’d lost it.”

“A door to what?”

“O to almost anywhere, regular boy.”

“To the ice cream shop in town?”

“Why yes, if that’s your fancy.”

“Wow.”

The man started feeling in the air.  “Can’t find that doorknob!  Ah ha, nevermind, here it is right here.”  The man stepped back and a large rectangle of light appeared.  “Well, goodbye regular boy.”

“Wait! Can I come with you?”

“No, I’m sorry.  You need a key to get through this door.”  The man pulled a chain out of his shirt and from it dangled a large shiny crystal in the shape of a key.  The man stepped into the light and pulled the door shut behind him.  It was as if he had never been there.

“Come on, Peter, just do it already!”

“Yeah, I dare ya’!”

Peter stepped to the edge of the cliff and looked down at the water.  It looked very cold.  “Guys, I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“What, are you chicken, Pete?”

“No, I’m not chicken.  I just think that this is a bad idea.  I’ll get my clothes wet.”

The other two laughed at Peter.  “Take your precious clothes off,” they jeered.  “You’re such a chicken,” they taunted.

He mustered up the courage and jumped.  BAM!!!  He hit an invisible wall and fell backwards, away from the edge of the cliff.

Peter looked up and then exclaimed, “It’s the door!”

“The door?” one of his friends asked.

“Yes, the door.”

“To what?”

Suddenly a crack of light appeared at the edge of the cliff.  It widened into a large rectangle of light.  A strange man stepped through and closed the door.  He looked down at the teen sprawled on the ground.

“Hello? What have we here?  I do say, you look as if you’ve had a fall.  Who might you be?”

“Don’t you remember me?  My name is Peter.”

“I see, so you have a name.  And what are you?”

“I’m a regular boy.  We’ve met before.”

“A regular boy.  Now, I don’t suppose you know where this is, Peter?”

“We’re on Blind’s Cliff, sir.”

The strange man stood and pondered for a moment.  Peter’s friends gaped at the stranger and at Peter.  The man looked around, like he was looking for something.

“Do you remember me?” Peter asked.

“What?”

“You lost your door several years back.  I was there, don’t you remember?”

“Well I think I do remember.  Several years, you say.  Time must go quickly here, and you are much larger than the regular boy I remember.”

“I grew.”

“Hmm… growing.  Might not want to do that, you may get too large to fit through the door.”  The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a crystalline key.  “I had been thinking of recruiting a traveling companion.  Do I have a volunteer?”

“Indeed you do sir!”

“Very well regular boy.”  The strange man tossed him the key.  “Lead the way.”

“To the ice cream shop in town?”

“Why yes, if that’s your fancy.”

“Wow.”

No one ever saw Peter again and his friends never told anyone what really happened.