There Are Doors by Gene Wolfe

Author:Gene Wolfe [Wolfe, Gene]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3, pdf
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction
ISBN: 0708883184
Google: sK9pkv4Z5l0C
Amazon: B008VK1HQC
Goodreads: 666601
Publisher: Tor
Published: 1988-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

19

Home Again

The waitress had brought Fanny's salad and his fettuccine, with the tea and coffee, while Fanny was at the register. When she returned she asked, "Aren't you hungry?"

"I'm starved," he said, "but first I want to see what you got."

"Two perfectly ordinary ten-dollar bills." She held them out. "You really are crazy, that's what I think."

He shook his head and forked up fettuccine.

"And I asked if you were hungry."

"I want to think," he told her, "and I think better when I'm eating." After another bite he asked, "Would you like a taste? It's really very good."

"Just to keep you happy." She took a forkful, followed by two more. "You didn't really get those bills you showed me from him, did you?"

He nodded, his mouth full.

"You're saying that man knows, that he's manipulating us."

He swallowed. "I don't think so. He talked to me about the fight, Joe's fight."

"Who's Joe?"

"A boxer. I met him once. Everybody says what a nice guy he is, and he seemed like one, the one time I talked to him. Do you remember what Mama Capini said about the people Lara brought here?"

Fanny nodded. "The big man and the blonde? Sure."

"Joe was the big man. Laura Nomos is Eddie Walsh's lawyer. Eddie is Joe's manager. All these people belong to your world, but Mama Capini doesn't." He sipped his water and went back to the fettuccine. "Joe paid for the dinner, remember? If it had been Lara -- Laura Nomos -- I would have understood, and maybe Joe used a credit card or wrote a check. But I don't think either one would be like Joe. He bought me coffee from a machine and got a soft drink for himself, and he took the change out of one of those little coin purses that misers use on TV. I bet he's had it since he was a kid. I think Joe would pay cash."

"And not look at his change till later?"

"No, that's just it. Joe would look at it. He'd count it, too. Probably Jennifer -- that's his wife, the woman in the red dress -- takes care of most of the bills, but he wouldn't want her to pay for a meal in a restaurant. That would embarrass him. So his change was right, in the right sort of money."

"Then they'd have to know, here in this restaurant. That's what I said."

He shook his head. "If he'd known, he wouldn't have talked to me about Joe. At first you don't understand what's happened. Believe me, I'm speaking from experience. What happened to him and this whole place is that they were pulled across, somehow. They went through a door -- except they couldn't have. One door couldn't take a whole building, could it?"

Fanny laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about. What's this about doors?"

"Lara told me, in a note. When you've been around someone from the other world, you see doors. Anything that's closed on all four sides can be one. It looks significant; that was her word.

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