The Doorway by TW Smith (microsoft ebook reader txt) 📕

They say that a book is a doorway to another world or another life.  You may or may not believe that but here is a tale of someone who has definitely become a believer.

What would you do if you had another life to live.  Would it make a difference if you had the chance to do something all over again.  Is your fate sealed or does free will actually give you a fighting chance.  It’s possible that you will never know since life’s rewind button is ever so elusive.  Then again, it’s possible that you wouldn’t know you had been given a second chance until after you’ve made your choices–or your choices were made for you.

David loved to read, perhaps to a fault.  He loved the stories and the characters and daydreaming about how he would have done things differently to make everything better.  This is the story about his (day) dream come true, for better or worse.  When he haplessly makes a wish at just the right moment, haplessly and heedlessly falling into another place with no way back, he finds himself faced with the need to survive long enough to get out from under the umbrella of his careless words, should that window of opportunity still be open.

There was nothing like a day at the beach with a favorite book in hand and hot bikini clad girls all around to boost the morale of a teenage boy.  At least that is more or less what David Welch was thinking at that moment as he lay on an old towel peeking over the top of his book at a couple girls walking obliviously by.  The closest girl was wearing a white string bikini even though she kind of scrawny and not very well endowed.  The other girl in the violet strapless one piece was really what had grabbed his attention when he looked up to make sure that his mom was ok.

His mom had a bad leg that often inhibited her mobility very badly, especially when there was a storm coming.  This morning she had seemed ok but her walk had been a bit stiff as she made her way through the countless beach umbrella’s to cool herself off in the ocean.  For now, however, have assured himself that his mom was fine, he was content to watch after the girls until a huge black and red umbrella shading the hideously fat man lying under it deprived him of his sinful pleasure.  He lamented for only a second how sad it was that neither of those girls had spared him even so much as a glance as they passed.  Mostly unconcerned, he returned to his book even if it was difficult to concentrate on the words.

Fortunately, this was his favorite book so he really didn’t need to read it to know what it said.  It was his favorite for many reasons, though perhaps one of the key considerations was that his mom had written it.  More than that, however, was that something about the story just felt so familiar no matter how absurd that sounded to him.  He had asked his mom so many times where she got the idea for the plot and if she was indeed the inspiration for the main character, Sienna Finelli, but all the only answer ever forthcoming to such questions had been “that was not my life”.   That answer left him full of questions and what-ifs that usually carried his daydreaming to new heights.

This was also his favorite towel for much the same reason.  It was a really big beach towel with a menacing image of Smaug, the dragon from the movie “The Hobbit”, almost challenging anyone at all to approach, at their own risk, while simultaneously doing everything possible to scare them away.  It was entirely possible that this was an inhibitor of any possible success he might have in attracting female attention but for now he was content simply to steal visions of their beauty from a distance.  Glancing around to check on his mother again, David noticed one girl applying sun screen to another girl that could, and probably was, her sister and tried his best not to be obvious in staring because he thought that the scene was totally hot.  Almost immediately after, he caught sight of a quick smooch between two guys that they clearly thought had been discreet and immediately wished that he could un-see it.  In hopes of distracting himself from the absolute grossness of the latter vision, he glances back to the girls but they are already heading toward the waves.  The sight of his mom limping toward him pushes everything else temporarily away.

“What’s wrong mom?”  The concern in his voice is unmistakable.

“Nothing sweetheart.  There’s probably a storm coming soon is all.”  David glanced up at the sky which was considerably more overcast than when they arrived and decided that she must be right.

“How’s the book?” she asked.  He knew that his mother wasn’t intentionally being sarcastic but it still felt as if she was mocking him a little for reading a book so many times.  She kept telling him that there were too many new adventures to be had to repeatedly re-read the same book.  He didn’t happen to agree with her on that particular point but kept his council to himself.

“It’s great.  I seriously wish I could get into some action like that.”  He had already set the book down and was already getting to his feet to help is mom who was having difficulty bending down to the cooler.  He couldn't be sure but he thought that the expression on his mom's face looked much more pained than normal making him worry that he had said or done something wrong.  He extracted for her a bottle of ice cold water.  The dazed look on her face as he hands her the bottle of water concerns him as much as confuses him.  Before she recovered, however, he was able to follow her gaze to the sandy towel he had just vacated.  His attention was immediately recalled by the sound of her voice.

“Then you’d better be careful with your key.”  Accepting the water with a look that radiated of sadness she continued, “I’m really not feeling well.  I’ll be inside resting.  Please try not to be too long.”

“What?  Oh, yeah sure mom.  I promise.  Go get some rest and I’ll get some dinner for us.  I’ll be home as soon as I can.”  Confused, he waits a second hoping for clarification but the distant look has passed, replace by what seems like resignation or the onset of depression, and his mom has already started hobbling toward the rental.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”  Knowing how independent his mom has had to be because his dad had died before he was born, he resistrf the urge to step in and help her to the house.

The smile that greets him when she turns around is absolutely heart breaking.  She simply acknowledges that she’s just really tired before walking away.

It was two years ago when he found the cedar chest in the back corner of the basement.  It was locked of course but that was hardly a deterrent to a hopelessly romantic, head strong and very curious teenager.  Because the chest was so much like a treasure chest from the Pirates of the Caribbean or the home of some amazing keepsake like in Treasures in my Heart (Paula F Guidry), he was loathe to damage it in any way so before allowing himself to succumb to youthful impetuousness, he set about a thorough exploration of the house to find the key to this treasure untold.  His imagination ran wild in the ever more fantastic fantasy about what the chest might hold.

He surreptitiously searched all of the house for the key over the following week without even a glimpse of success.   The one exception of his exploration was his mother’s bedroom since she was nearly always in there when he was home.  As would be expected, the mystique of the chest has risen to epic proportions while the hope of maintaining the impeccable beauty of intricately designed chest dwindled.  It wasn’t until an extremely humid stormy day later the next week when his mom slept the particularly bad day away under the sedation of her pain killers on the living room sofa that he dared to venture into her room.  He was extremely careful to leave everything exactly as he found it.  After an hour of searching, however, he was ready to give up. 

As a last resort before applying the crowbar, he looked at her bookshelf.  He checked under it and behind it and under every book but there was no key to be found.  As he was arranging the back to their exact positions though he noticed that his mom kept another copy of her book here.  Thinking it was perhaps an original with cliff notes and everything, he opened it up and to his surprise out fell the key.  The book had been hollowed to keep the key but David couldn’t even remotely grasp what the significance of the book was in relation to the chest.  He was sure determined to find out though.

Eagerness rushing his steps, he proceeded as quietly as he could down to the basement.  It took a couple tries to unstick the lock which had presumably sat here in the sometimes damp basement for a long time.  With a soft creak, the lid swung open to reveal … a towel.  A very cool towel he