as soon as trixie checked into her room on the forty-first floor of the grand hotel, she realized she had forgotten to study for her algebra test, which she would have to take on tuesday… four days away…
and she had forgotten to pack the algebra book. not that it would have made any difference, she had not opened the algebra book all year. she did not really even know what algebra was.
it was hopeless. she would be exposed as a fraud, and her life would be over.
she decided to go downstairs, and wander aimlessly through the streets of the great city until it was time to find someplace to eat.
but when she got down to the lobby she found it in a state of great disrepair and confusion, as if it were suddenly being completely remodeled. she could not even find the front desk, to ask what was going on.
she decided not to wander through the streets of the great city, but to just go back up to her room and order a grilled cheese sandwich from room service before things got any crazier.
she got back on an elevator. it was a wide elevator, like a freight elevator. there was no freight on it, or anything else or anybody else. she saw that it only went up to the fortieth floor, but her room was on the forty-first.
well, it should not be too hard to get to the forty-first floor from the fortieth. she pressed the button for the fortieth floor.
the elevator started moving sideways! the indicator above the door showed letters - a, b, c, d… instead of numbers.
she began pressing the lettered buttons. nothing happened… the elevator kept moving sideways.. like the shuttle in an airport …
she tried a, b, c. d…
trixie pressed the letter e, really hard. it took forever, but the elevator - or subway or whatever it was - finally stopped, and the door opened.
she jumped out. she was in what looked like a big department store, with ceilings as high as a train station.
she could see a street outside through big windows, but nothing looked familiar. she decided to go into the interior of the department store, where maybe she could find her way back to the hotel.
everything for sale in the store - mostly coats that looked like they were for people eight feet tall, was behind glass, and looked really expensive, though there were no price tags.
the carpet in the corridor was green, as as soft as grass.
trixie kept walking down the green corridor, without seeing another person.
maybe she should have gone outside into the street. she could have asked somebody for directions.
finally she saw somebody approaching.
it looked like mister davis.
mister davis! suddenly it hit her.
she was not in school any more. she did not have to take an algebra test on tuesday…
it was all -
a dream. she woke up. she looked over and joey was not beside her.
of course he wasn’t. it all came back to her. she was in the motel room outside wheeling west virginia, and joey was long gone.
there was a little clock on a table beside the bed, and the red illuminated numbers said 2:44.
it was all cool. she did not have to take an algebra test, now or ever.
and joey was gone. and so was tony.
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