by Nowick Gray
Of course.
Back home again, jiggedy-jig. Whoever was responsible for this cruel joke, I was not amused. The combination of
lentils and fruit? I tossed and turned. Boards banged; the little room rocked from side to side--walls shifting,
floorboards groaning. Invisible windows threw blackness back into itself. I considered getting up and going outside
again, this time to investigate that infernal banging. But I couldn't even see the door in the dark, and besides
. . .
Lightning flashed. The room reeled eerily. What I saw was simple enough: an oblong box, irregular of construction-or misshapen from weathering, or warped by some trick played by the conspiracy of eye and mind, mirror and eye, mirror and mirror . . .
Still the row of doors; I couldn't remember which I'd tried before. So I tried them all, turning the knobs to see which might open. Just to get my options clear, so I could put all my rational faculties to best use. Rational? Both mirrors were intact.
From somewhere outside the box I heard a distant sound of hollow laughter, and the skin crawled briefly up my back. Meanwhile two doors were locked. Could I assume these represented my choices thus far? I could assume nothing. But that was my hypothesis, for better or worse. And so I had five remaining doors to try. I was beginning to wonder if there was any point to guesswork, or if this whole thing was a setup to run me through my paces before the final door. God's idea of a fun game to play with humans.
All right, then, I could play. Eliminating the locked doors, I had five to go. Of these I decided to leave the end doors alone for the time being, and faced the choice of the remaining three. Now, which to open first?
DREAMBOX:
For left-hand door, Press L
For center door, Press C
For right-hand door, Press R