                          An Unnamed Short

Eiwirr peered around the corner.  Carefully, carefully he tested the floor

with one foot, then the other.  He took one step.  A second step.  A third

step.  He was walking slowly, slowly.  He tested the walls with a cautious

finger.  Solid and unmoving.

        Eiwirr knew he had to get to the door before it closed.  He knew it

was closing fast.  But this place could be fraught with danger!  Any step

could send him falling to his death in a pit of alligators, or hopelessly
trapped in a sticky quagmire.  He continued to cross the room at a snail's
pace.  He had time yet. Eiwirr was a careful person.
        Gently as anything, he tapped the wooden door.  He waited for a
minute or so.  He touched the knob, traced the silky metal with a finger.
He closed his hand around the smooth egg and turned it.  Something snapped,
the latch broke free, and the door opened.  
        And there!  There it was!  Eiwirr's escape!  The Great Black Door!
It was closing, indeed.  Right now it was about seven and a half feet tall,
and closing.
        Eiwirr was five feet nine inches tall.
        But lo!  Another room to cross before he reached it.  And so Eiwirr
set out again, testing the floor with every step, not daring to take more
than seven seconds at every pace.
        The door was closing.  Eiwirr felt the sweat on his forehead.  He
knew he would make it...?...no, he pushed that thought from his mind.  Being
trapped in this place was unfathomable.  Miss the boat and you stay forever.
        The door was closing.  If Eiwirr wanted to make it, he'd have to
crawl on his belly.  But no, he knew this was the final trap.  Hurry now
and that would be the end--the pit--the quicksand. 
        The door was closing.  Eiwirr was a yard away...but he never quickened
his pace.
        The door was closing...
        ...the door closed.
        Eiwirr's scream of agony reverberated throughout the web of cells, 
but no one was there to hear it.
 
---->Moral of the story:
        Whatever your mother says, you CAN be too careful.
 
                        Comments go to THE ZORKER<----

