For the Trees by Brett Baker

Author:Brett Baker [Baker, Brett]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2017-08-26T22:00:00+00:00

25

Chapter 25

Three raps on my door woke me from a deep sleep. They didn’t even sound like knocks, but rather like concussive blasts. I half-expected to see the door blown off its hinges as I sat up, turned on the light, and tried to figure out where I was. The digital clock on the dresser read 1:36, and I’d been asleep for two hours. I’d hung out at Abner’s cabin all day and talked to dozens of people, but most of the conversations unfolded like the conversation with Curt. I met plenty of passionate, caring people, who knew a lot about their cause, but had no information relevant to me. I’d given my name to a handful of people and none of them showed any reaction. Two people told me my name sounded like a movie star, which I’d heard dozens of times before. None of them seemed interested enough to come pounding on my hotel room door in the middle of the night though. I approached the door quietly, without turning on a light. If the person on the other side meant to do me harm, the least I could do to protect myself was not provide the light by which he could carry out his plans. Best to make him think I wasn’t there. I’d learned a lesson years before that even most people who aren’t in The Summit have learned: when someone knocks on your door at 1:36 in the morning, it’s always bad news.

I looked through the peephole and saw a man with short brown hair, glasses, and facial hair so pitch patchy and groomed, yet permitted to grow wild where it was permitted to grow at all, that it appeared as though he employed a full-time facial hair stylist. He rubbed the back of his neck, and looked down at the ground, as if deep in thought. He knocked again, this time with even more enthusiasm, but never shifted his gaze from the floor. Had he looked in either direction down the hall, or behind him, or done anything else to indicate that he worried about someone else arriving or seeing him go into the room, I would have been even more worried. But with the thunderous impact of his knocks, and his complete focus on the floor, I realized he wanted to talk to me and he had no reason to hide his urgency, which I hoped meant that he didn’t intend to do me harm. Still, I’d assume he wanted to harm me until he proved otherwise.

If I asked him to identify himself before I opened the door then I’d obviously let him know I was in the room. That gave him an opportunity to prepare for me opening the door, and he could begin doing whatever he came to do. Instead, I opted to surprise him. I turned the light on for a second to look at the layout of the room, which would provide another slight advantage if he attacked me. I took the iron from the top shelf of the closet and put it under my pillow.

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