The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Doorway, by Evelyn E. Smith

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Title: The Doorway

Author: Evelyn E. Smith

Release Date: June 17, 2009 [EBook #29138]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_A discerning critic once pointed out that Edgar Allen Poe possessed
not so much a distinctive style as a distinctive _manner_. So
startlingly original was his approach to the dark castles and
haunted woodlands of his own somber creation that he transcended the
literary by the sheer magic of his prose. Something of that same
magic gleams in the darkly-tapestried little fantasy presented here,
beneath Evelyn Smith's eerily enchanted wand._

the
doorway

_by ... Evelyn E. Smith_

A man may wish he'd married his first love and not really mean
it. But an insincere wish may turn ugly in dimensions unknown.

"It is my theory," Professor Falabella said, helping himself to a
cookie, "that no one ever really makes a decision. What really happens
is that whenever alternative courses of action are called for, the
individuality splits up and continues on two or more divergent planes,
very much like the parthenogenesis of a unicellular animal ... Delicious
cookies these, Mrs. Hughes."

"Thank you, Professor," Gloria simpered. "I made them myself."

"You must give us the recipe," said one of the ladies--and the others
murmured agreement, glad to get their individualities on a plane they
could understand.

"Since most decisions are hardly as momentous as the individual
imagines," Professor Falabella continued, "and since the imagination of
the average individual is very limited, many of these different
planes--or, as they are colloquially known, space-time continuums--may
exist in close, even tangential relationship."

Gloria rose unobtrusively and took the teapot to the kitchen for a
refill. Her husband stood by the sink moodily drinking whiskey out of
the bottle so as to avoid having to wash a glass afterward.

"Bill, you're not bein