SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

THE CARDS ON THE TABLE

Darwin came tumbling out of the kitchen, anxiety evident on his face. He was not acting. I was winded. I felt a certain heaviness in my legs. The silence became tense.

"Follow me," ordered the doctor.

I noticed that he held a heavy lead key in one hand and an aerosol can in the other.

"Where to?" my friend dared to ask.

"Follow me!" he repeated.

We followed him. The doctor was so close to us that running away from him was not an option; we were easy targets. He reached the bathroom and then stopped in front of the door. Darwin and I stayed where we were, anxiously expectant.

"Go in," he said.

We froze in place.

"Go ahead," the doctor repeated.

My companion and I stayed rooted in the same spot, paralyzed with terror. All things considered, Darwin gave me as insistent a look as he ever could have. It was time to negotiate.

"Doctor!" Darwin cried desperately. "We're really sorry about the basement!"

"We're your friends!" I added in a desperate attempt to arouse his compassion.

The executioner sighed. He signaled the door again with the heavy lead key.

"Enter."

"Please, doctor," I begged. "We've known each other for a long time, and..."

"Go in at once!" he interrupted me.

We went into the bathroom.

"In just a moment I'll show you..." said the doctor, closing the door.

He put the key in the door. He locked it. Oh God! It looked like something worse than death awaited us...

"What's wrong with your faces?" the executioner asked, without hiding a creepy smile.

"Doctor!" Darwin pleaded. "We didn't mean it."

"Oh, let's go! Get into the shower," Dr. Masterton replied, still smiling.

"But..."

"Go on!"

We obeyed.

It was like I was living a horrible nightmare from which there was no escape.

"Doctor!" I begged. "We only..."

I stopped. In front of our stupefied gaze, the doctor twisted the sink's water faucets in the opposite direction.

The floor of the shower started to cave in! Instinctively, I tried to hold on to one of the walls. Darwin was trying to do the same thing.

"Make space for me!" the doctor exclaimed and jumped towards the shower.

He sprayed the air with the aerosol.

"Aside from being an elevator, it's also a bathroom," he explained. "There are odors."

"What's happening!" I heard myself moan.

"I want to show you the basement," he replied, as if not to make a big deal of it. "And please, stop acting as if I were some kind of criminal! I know I've never spoken to you about the basement, but now is the time."