Insolitis

III

Jay rushed out of the room and walked to the other side of the wall he just put his hand though. Looking up and down the hallway, Jay looked for the person who he must have tapped on the shoulder just a few minutes ago. There was no on in the hallway. He bit his lip. Maybe Kathy’s right, and this is a story. I mean, I just put my hand through a wall made of words and tapped the shoulder of someone who’s not here! Jay shook his head, trying to clear his head of thoughts he didn’t want to be thinking.

He walked back to the door, and was about to enter the room and demand an explanation when he heard raised voices from inside.

“Did you tell him the cover story?”

“I told him we don’t know why the story is changing from what Leann wrote. I haven’t yet told him what we want his help with.”

“What about Leann? How’s she going to deal with this?”

“Will he even be able to do it? And does he believe the cover story?”

“I don’t know! Where is he anyway?!”

Jay figured that this was his cue to enter. He had a feeling that he shouldn’t let them know what he had heard. Walking in, Jay started spluttering about ‘walls’ and ‘hands’ and ‘impossible things’. Melvin came over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Jay, this room is the heart of the story. Everything in this world is centered around us right now. The words that make up these walls are all the words used in our book. Look! Right there!” Melvin pointed to a spot on the wall. Jay’s name was swirling near the words ‘hair’, ‘shaggy’, ‘lip’, ‘blue’, and ‘eyebrow’. “I’ll bet that’s the path to when she was writing the description of you. Go on, stick your hand through the wall, right there, by those words.” Jay did so. He felt someone’s shoulder again. He quickly pulled his hand back. “Now, I’m not sure if that was before or after the first time you tapped Leann’s shoulder. The first time you could have reached through to a time when she’s already a major author. And not knowing when you reach through can cause problems. You might have gotten her all excited that you were coming for a visit for nothing.”

Jay was skeptical. “If someone tapped me on the shoulder through a wall, I wouldn’t be excited.”

“But Leann is different. Her characters are her best friends. She looks forward to the day she gets to meet her characters once again.” Melvin smiled.

“How do you know this?” Jay questioned. Melvin glanced at Oliver, who threw a nervous glance at Kathy, who pretended not to notice. Jay turned to Oliver.

“We’ve- uh- gone through the wall and- uh- watched Leann. Uh- and- and she wants to meet you.” Oliver was wringing his hands and glancing at Kathy.

Cynthia was glaring out the window, an unhappy look on her face. Oliver was avoiding eye contact with everyone. They sure are nervous about something. And from what I heard before, I don’t think they can travel through the wall. So Oliver lied. Jay thought. He glanced at Kathy. She was inspecting the walls carefully, looking for a particular set of words.

“I’ve found it; the path of words to a time a day after Jay tapped Leann on the shoulder. It should be right after she wrote about you receiving the letter for Family Day, so you kind of know where you’re at. Don’t give her any spoilers about her own story. Just try to avoid any conversation about the story.” Kathy pointed to a spot on the wall near the floor, but not making contact. “Just crawl through here.” Jay knelt down. “Oh and one more thing, try to stay in contact with the wall….We’re not sure if you need to be or not to be able to get back.” Jay nodded and crawled through the wall. The words parted and swirled around him as he disappeared.