"Second floor, Rehab and Recovery, how may I help you?" "Yes, may I please speak with Audrey, thank you?" "One moment please." Music plays while Pierre waits and he becomes annoyed. His paranoia has been right the majority of the time, so he cannot help but double check. Vladimir and Gretchen also sense something is off, but they stay silent. Vladimir anxiously fills the awkwardness in the room. "I wonder where our food is, it's been over an hour?"
Pierre clenches his jaw and covers the phone. "If you used all that energy for thinking, I would entrust you with more, but no, all you think about is food." He mumbles under his breath, "When I get the fireman, I will have no need for you Vladi."
Pierre mimics Vlada with a dopey voice, "It's been an hour, I wonder..." "Thank you for holding, Audrey is unavailable at this time. Would you like to leave a message for her?" "No, that won't be necessary."
Stephen gets a headache because his mind tries to translate this extraordinary discovery through finite rationale and reasoning. He lies on the bed thinking and thinking, and remembers something...
When he was a little boy, his family was poor, so instead of taking Stephen to the zoo, circus, carnival, or amusement parks, his father would take him to a huge hotel where he worked. They would ride the glass elevator all the way to the top, but Stephen found his favorite part was the spinning door! Anyone wanting to get in had a short window of opportunity to hop on before someone else came through and the door shut.
He jumps up and looks at the pictures again. "What if the photograph inside the photograph is the same as a revolving door? What if Gloria is trapped inside waiting for someone to push the door so she has a small portal to get back here to me?! I wonder where it leads to?" Stephen never felt more alive! He feels like a child playing with his father again, and this thought makes him hopeful!
TO BE CONTINUED...