Little Doors Read Online Free

Princess?” asked Steel Daniel. “To visit another world where things are perhaps more to your liking, but definitely not as they are here?”
“Yes,” said the Princess, stamping her foot (the one that had not kicked the hassock, for that one was a trifle sore). “Any world must be better than this one. I’ll go anywhere that extends a welcome.”
The Princess did not stop to think about how she would be leaving her mother and father and Steel Daniel behind, and truth to tell, she didn’t precisely care just then.
“Well, in that case,” said Daniel, “I have no choice but to obey your commands. I will tell you whom you must visit to satisfy your wish. It is Professor Mouse, who lives far away, over much treacherous terrain. You must journey to him on foot, disguised as a commoner, and no one can help you. The only aids I can proffer are these.”
Steel Daniel opened a little door in his chest and took out a magic stone and a magic leaf. Princess Ordinary took them, and, before you could say tara-cum-diddle, she was clothed like a peasant girl and marching down the path leading from the castle gate, without so much as a fare-thee-well …
     
    Perplexed, Crawleigh shut the book. Where were the characters itemized by Mitchell? Except for Professor Mouse, they were nonexistent. Had Mitchell gone over the edge at the end, beset as he was with personal troubles? Did Crawleigh even have the same book?
    Whatever the explanation, Crawleigh would have to proceed as if this were the text to be dissected. What else could he do? He would take Xeroxes (Audrey’s job, that), and use them to refute anyone who sided with Mitchell’s version of the book.
    But for now, he had had enough of Little Doors . The reading had left him with an unexplainable headache, and he resolved to go home for the day.
     
    * * *
     
    When Crawleigh arrived to pick up Audrey, he found her still packing. The shade was up today, letting Saturday sunlight spill in, and Crawleigh found the room foreign-looking. Audrey was frantically rummaging through her dresser and closet, tossing clothes into an open suitcase. Her cheap turntable was spinning, and loud music filled the air.
    “Oh, Jerry,” she cried when he let himself in after knocking. “What am I gonna pack? What kind of restaurants will we be going to? What kind of people am I gonna meet? Oh, Christ, why didn’t I buy that goddam dress I saw on sale last week?”
    Crawleigh refrained from telling Audrey that she wouldn’t be meeting any of his colleagues if he could help it. The MLA conference—held in San Francisco this year—was just the place where news of his perfidies would disseminate the fastest. Audrey would have to stay in the hotel room until he was free to be with her; or otherwise amuse herself inconspicuously during the day.
    But time enough to tell her this when they were on the plane.
    “Listen, dear, just take what you consider to be most stylish, and I’m sure you’ll look fine. We don’t have much time, you realize, if we’re going to make our flight.”
    Audrey frantically stuffed loose shirttails and sleeves and legs into the battered suitcase. “Jesus, I’m gonna forget something important, I just know it.”
    While Audrey finished, Crawleigh moved idly about the room, still bemused by how strange it looked to him today. He picked up the empty cardboard record-sleeve lying by the turntable and studied it. It was good to know a few names in the rock and roll world to drop in front of students, and Crawleigh relied on Audrey for this knowledge, in addition to the carnal variety.
    This particular record cover showed a fuzzy close-up photo of a katydid, and said:
     
    STEELY DAN
    Katy Lied
     
    As Crawleigh read the title, the singer’s words leaped into sonic focus.
     
A kingdom where the sky is burning,
A vision of the child returning.
Any world that I’m welcome to,
Any world that I’m welcome to,
Is better than the one I come from.
     
    A shiver ran down