The Forgotten Door (13 page)

“I don't remember what it's like where I came from,” he told them. “But I
know
it isn't like this. I'm sure, just from listening to what they are saying to me now, that we live in small groups, and help one another. There are not too many of us, but we have great knowledge, and we've made life so simple that we don't have laws or even leaders, for they aren't needed any more than money is needed. I think we make things— everything — with our hands, and that life is a great joy, for we have time for so much …”

They were staring at him, and Mary whispered, “Jon, what — what are you trying to tell us?”

“I — I'm trying to tell you that you'd like it there, and that I want you to come with me. I've been talking to my people, explaining what's happened to us, and telling them that I can't leave you. They — they've agreed that you must come with me.”

They gasped. He read their sudden confusion. How could they drop everything? … They needed time to think, to plan …

“There's no time left,” he hurried to say. “You won't need anything from here — just flashlights to see your way through the woods …”

Suddenly Sally said, “Oh, Jon, I think it would be wonderful to live in a place where all the animals were friendly, and nobody hunted them. Please, Daddy —”

“Yes,” said Mary. Thomas said, “O.K., Jon. How do we manage to get away from the house?”

“After I leave, wait a few minutes,” he told them. “When you hear shouts out in the pasture, get in the truck and drive as fast you can up to the gap trail. Then climb to the gap. I'll meet you up there.”

Before they could ask questions he darted to the kitchen door, unlocked it, and raced outside.

He reached the enclosure in two bounds, and released Rascal.
Stay behind me,
he ordered.
Keep quiet
.

Where was Gilby now? His flying feet took him across the garden and over the pasture fence. As he touched the pasture he heard a shrill whistle from the road, and an answering whistle ahead. It was still twilight and he had been seen already. It was better than he had hoped for.

He slowed, pretending to be undecided. In the shadows ahead he could make out Gilby and Angus and several others. He realized that their plan had been to fire the barn and draw attention from Jon O'Connor, who would be left unguarded. But Jon O'Connor was here — and he could see Angus, who carried an oil can, gaping at him in utter astonishment and disbelief, and sudden fear.

There was a quick clattering of shoes over the stones along the edge of the pasture. Other men were coming in a rush.

As he turned to dart away, a man called hoarsely, “Head the boy off! Don't let him get past! Hit him with something — but watch out for that dog!”

A hurled stone went past his head. He leaped easily beyond the frightened Angus, and saw Rascal spring growling at a second figure that tried to block his way. He listened for the sound of Thomas' truck. The way was clear, and the Beans should be leaving …

A rock grazed his shoulder, and another struck his back with such force that he stumbled and almost went sprawling. He gained his balance, but too late to avoid the next stone. There was an instant when he saw it coming, and abruptly there was the stunning impact of it across the top of his head.

Consciousness did not leave him as he fell. He heard men shouting, the pounding of approaching footsteps — and a man's sudden scream as Rascal slashed into him. The big dog was all at once a whirling, snarling fury, his charges sending men tumbling as his fangs ripped cloth and flesh.

Little Jon heard all this, but as his hands clutched the pasture grass it seemed for a moment that he was somewhere else — far away on a hill at home … Memory flooded over him, and he saw again the valley people on the hill, and the glittering wonder of the shooting stars they had come to watch … Then he had fallen into the hill — into the crumbling chamber with its old machine. The machine spun a force that bridged space in an instant. You stepped through the shimmering Door it made — and the threshold on the other side was somewhere else, another world.

He struggled to his knees, aware of the fury that was Rascal, of a man crawling away in pain … This wasn't home. This was the strange world, Thomas Bean's world. Only, there were too few in it like Thomas Bean, and the Door to it had long been closed …

He heard the sudden roar of Thomas' truck, and he sprang up with a glad cry. This was no longer Thomas Bean's world — the Beans were leaving …

He began to run. Behind him Rascal made one final charge, then raced to overtake him. There was pursuit, but his pursuers might have been following the wind. He and Rascal cleared the road together, and went bounding upward through the darkening woods.

He met the Beans on the trail, and led them on to where his people waited. They all carried glowing lights that made a radiance in the forest. But presently, one by one, the lights vanished.

The forest grew still again, and empty save for a wandering doe and her fawn.

The Bean house stands empty. All through the mountains people whisper of it, and shake their heads. When the first investigators came, there was still food on the table, untouched. Everything the Beans owned was there, and nothing had been taken, even from the shop. Thomas Bean's truck was found up the road, abandoned. The Beans had simply vanished, empty-handed, without the least sign to indicate what had happened. And the strange boy, Jon O'Connor, had vanished with them — leaving an angry and baffled colonel who appeared the next morning, and whose men searched the mountains for days.

So the Bean place stands empty, and the pasture and the fields are overgrown. Gilby Pitts never goes by there if he can help it. Angus Macklin has moved away. Miss Josie went there only once, just after the colonel left. She found three curious carvings on Thomas Bean's desk, which no one else had eyes for. She treasures them, and often wonders about them when she is alone, but she has never mentioned her thoughts to anyone.

Across a threshold, and somewhere far beyond, there is a hill where the valley people often gather when the day's work is done. From it you can watch the glittering night unfold, and see the whole magic sweep when the shooting stars begin to stream like jewels across the sky.

Even the deer come out to watch, unafraid.

About the Author

Alexander Key (1904–1979) started out as an illustrator before he began writing science fiction novels for young readers. He has published many titles, including
Sprockets
:
A Little Robot, Mystery of the Sassafras Chair
, and
The Forgotten Door
, winner of the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award. Key's novel
Escape to Witch Mountain
was adapted for film in 1975, 1995, and 2009.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 1965 by Alexander Key

Cover design by Jesse Hayes

ISBN: 978-1-4976-5263-7

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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New York, NY 10014

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EBOOKS BY ALEXANDER KEY

FROM OPEN ROAD MEDIA