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diff --git a/28644.txt b/28644.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e1788de --- /dev/null +++ b/28644.txt @@ -0,0 +1,740 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond the Door, by Philip K. Dick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Beyond the Door + +Author: Philip K. Dick + +Release Date: April 30, 2009 [EBook #28644] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEYOND THE DOOR *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + _Did you ever wonder at the lonely life the bird in a cuckoo clock + has to lead--that it might possibly love and hate just as easily as + a real animal of flesh and blood? Philip Dick used that idea for + this brief fantasy tale. We're sure that after reading it you'll + give cuckoo clocks more respect._ + + + beyond + the + door + + _by ... Philip K. Dick_ + + + Larry Thomas bought a cuckoo clock + for his wife--without knowing the + price he would have to pay. + + +That night at the dinner table he brought it out and set it down beside +her plate. Doris stared at it, her hand to her mouth. "My God, what is +it?" She looked up at him, bright-eyed. + +"Well, open it." + +Doris tore the ribbon and paper from the square package with her sharp +nails, her bosom rising and falling. Larry stood watching her as she +lifted the lid. He lit a cigarette and leaned against the wall. + +"A cuckoo clock!" Doris cried. "A real old cuckoo clock like my mother +had." She turned the clock over and over. "Just like my mother had, when +Pete was still alive." Her eyes sparkled with tears. + +"It's made in Germany," Larry said. After a moment he added, "Carl got +it for me wholesale. He knows some guy in the clock business. Otherwise +I wouldn't have--" He stopped. + +Doris made a funny little sound. + +"I mean, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to afford it." He scowled. +"What's the matter with you? You've got your clock, haven't you? Isn't +that what you want?" + +Doris sat holding onto the clock, her fingers pressed against the brown +wood. + +"Well," Larry said, "what's the matter?" + +He watched in amazement as she leaped up and ran from the room, still +clutching the clock. He shook his head. "Never satisfied. They're all +that way. Never get enough." + +He sat down at the table and finished his meal. + +The cuckoo clock was not very large. It was hand-made, however, and +there were countless frets on it, little indentations and ornaments +scored in the soft wood. Doris sat on the bed drying her eyes and +winding the clock. She set the hands by her wristwatch. Presently she +carefully moved the hands to two minutes of ten. She carried the clock +over to the dresser and propped it up. + +Then she sat waiting, her hands twisted together in her lap--waiting for +the cuckoo to come out, for the hour to strike. + +As she sat she thought about Larry and what he had said. And what she +had said, too, for that matter--not that she could be blamed for any of +it. After all, she couldn't keep listening to him forever without +defending herself; you had to blow your own trumpet in the world. + +She touched her handkerchief to her eyes suddenly. Why did he have to +say that, about getting it wholesale? Why did he have to spoil it all? +If he felt that way he needn't have got it in the first place. She +clenched her fists. He was so mean, so damn mean. + +But she was glad of the little clock sitting there ticking to itself, +with its funny grilled edges and the door. Inside the door was the +cuckoo, waiting to come out. Was he listening, his head cocked on one +side, listening to hear the clock strike so that he would know to come +out? + +Did he sleep between hours? Well, she would soon see him: she could ask +him. And she would show the clock to Bob. He would love it; Bob loved +old things, even old stamps and buttons. He liked to go with her to the +stores. Of course, it was a little _awkward_, but Larry had been staying +at the office so much, and that helped. If only Larry didn't call up +sometimes to-- + +There was a whirr. The clock shuddered and all at once the door opened. +The cuckoo came out, sliding swiftly. He paused and looked around +solemnly, scrutinizing her, the room, the furniture. + +It was the first time he had seen her, she realized, smiling to herself +in pleasure. She stood up, coming toward him shyly. "Go on," she said. +"I'm waiting." + +The cuckoo opened his bill. He whirred and chirped, quickly, +rhythmically. Then, after a moment of contemplation, he retired. And the +door snapped shut. + +She was delighted. She clapped her hands and spun in a little circle. He +was marvelous, perfect! And the way he had looked around, studying her, +sizing her up. He liked her; she was certain of it. And she, of course, +loved him at once, completely. He was just what she had hoped would come +out of the little door. + +Doris went to the clock. She bent over the little door, her lips close +to the wood. "Do you hear me?" she whispered. "I think you're the most +wonderful cuckoo in the world." She paused, embarrassed. "I hope you'll +like it here." + +Then she went downstairs again, slowly, her head high. + +Larry and the cuckoo clock really never got along well from the start. +Doris said it was because he didn't wind it right, and it didn't like +being only half-wound all the time. Larry turned the job of winding over +to her; the cuckoo came out every quarter hour and ran the spring down +without remorse, and someone had to be ever after it, winding it up +again. + +Doris did her best, but she forgot a good deal of the time. Then Larry +would throw his newspaper down with an elaborate weary motion and stand +up. He would go into the dining-room where the clock was mounted on the +wall over the fireplace. He would take the clock down and making sure +that he had his thumb over the little door, he would wind it up. + +"Why do you put your thumb over the door?" Doris asked once. + +"You're supposed to." + +She raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure? I wonder if it isn't that you +don't want him to come out while you're standing so close." + +"Why not?" + +"Maybe you're afraid of him." + +Larry laughed. He put the clock back on the wall and gingerly removed +his thumb. When Doris wasn't looking he examined his thumb. + +There was still a trace of the nick cut out of the soft part of it. +Who--or what--had pecked at him? + + * * * * * + +One Saturday morning, when Larry was down at the office working over +some important special accounts, Bob Chambers came to the front porch +and rang the bell. + +Doris was taking a quick shower. She dried herself and slipped into her +robe. When she opened the door Bob stepped inside, grinning. + +"Hi," he said, looking around. + +"It's all right. Larry's at the office." + +"Fine." Bob gazed at her slim legs below the hem of the robe. "How nice +you look today." + +She laughed. "Be careful! Maybe I shouldn't let you in after all." + +They looked at one another, half amused half frightened. Presently Bob +said, "If you want, I'll--" + +"No, for God's sake." She caught hold of his sleeve. "Just get out of +the doorway so I can close it. Mrs. Peters across the street, you +know." + +She closed the door. "And I want to show you something," she said. "You +haven't seen it." + +He was interested. "An antique? Or what?" + +She took his arm, leading him toward the dining-room. "You'll love it, +Bobby." She stopped, wide-eyed. "I hope you will. You must; you must +love it. It means so much to me--_he_ means so much." + +"He?" Bob frowned. "Who is he?" + +Doris laughed. "You're jealous! Come on." A moment later they stood +before the clock, looking up at it. "He'll come out in a few minutes. +Wait until you see him. I know you two will get along just fine." + +"What does Larry think of him?" + +"They don't like each other. Sometimes when Larry's here he won't come +out. Larry gets mad if he doesn't come out on time. He says--" + +"Says what?" + +Doris looked down. "He always says he's been robbed, even if he did get +it wholesale." She brightened. "But I know he won't come out because he +doesn't like Larry. When I'm here alone he comes right out for me, every +fifteen minutes, even though he really only has to come out on the +hour." + +She gazed up at the clock. "He comes out for me because he wants to. We +talk; I tell him things. Of course, I'd like to have him upstairs in my +room, but it wouldn't be right." + +There was the sound of footsteps on the front porch. They looked at each +other, horrified. + +Larry pushed the front door open, grunting. He set his briefcase down +and took off his hat. Then he saw Bob for the first time. + +"Chambers. I'll be damned." His eyes narrowed. "What are you doing +here?" He came into the dining-room. Doris drew her robe about her +helplessly, backing away. + +"I--" Bob began. "That is, we--" He broke off, glancing at Doris. +Suddenly the clock began to whirr. The cuckoo came rushing out, bursting +into sound. Larry moved toward him. + +"Shut that din off," he said. He raised his fist toward the clock. The +cuckoo snapped into silence and retreated. The door closed. "That's +better." Larry studied Doris and Bob, standing mutely together. + +"I came over to look at the clock," Bob said. "Doris told me that it's a +rare antique and that--" + +"Nuts. I bought it myself." Larry walked up to him. "Get out of here." +He turned to Doris. "You too. And take that damn clock with you." + +He paused, rubbing his chin. "No. Leave the clock here. It's mine; I +bought it and paid for it." + +In the weeks that followed after Doris left, Larry and the cuckoo clock +got along even worse than before. For one thing, the cuckoo stayed +inside most of the time, sometimes even at twelve o'clock when he should +have been busiest. And if he did come out at all he usually spoke only +once or twice, never the correct number of times. And there was a +sullen, uncooperative note in his voice, a jarring sound that made Larry +uneasy and a little angry. + +But he kept the clock wound, because the house was very still and quiet +and it got on his nerves not to hear someone running around, talking and +dropping things. And even the whirring of a clock sounded good to him. + +But he didn't like the cuckoo at all. And sometimes he spoke to him. + +"Listen," he said late one night to the closed little door. "I know you +can hear me. I ought to give you back to the Germans--back to the Black +Forest." He paced back and forth. "I wonder what they're doing now, the +two of them. That young punk with his books and his antiques. A man +shouldn't be interested in antiques; that's for women." + +He set his jaw. "Isn't that right?" + +The clock said nothing. Larry walked up in front of it. "Isn't that +right?" he demanded. "Don't you have anything to say?" + +He looked at the face of the clock. It was almost eleven, just a few +seconds before the hour. "All right. I'll wait until eleven. Then I want +to hear what you have to say. You've been pretty quiet the last few +weeks since she left." + +He grinned wryly. "Maybe you don't like it here since she's gone." He +scowled. "Well, I paid for you, and you're coming out whether you like +it or not. You hear me?" + +Eleven o'clock came. Far off, at the end of town, the great tower clock +boomed sleepily to itself. But the little door remained shut. Nothing +moved. The minute hand passed on and the cuckoo did not stir. He was +someplace inside the clock, beyond the door, silent and remote. + +"All right, if that's the way you feel," Larry murmured, his lips +twisting. "But it isn't fair. It's your job to come out. We all have to +do things we don't like." + +He went unhappily into the kitchen and opened the great gleaming +refrigerator. As he poured himself a drink he thought about the clock. + +There was no doubt about it--the cuckoo should come out, Doris or no +Doris. He had always liked her, from the very start. They had got along +well, the two of them. Probably he liked Bob too--probably he had seen +enough of Bob to get to know him. They would be quite happy together, +Bob and Doris and the cuckoo. + +Larry finished his drink. He opened the drawer at the sink and took out +the hammer. He carried it carefully into the dining-room. The clock was +ticking gently to itself on the wall. + +"Look," he said, waving the hammer. "You know what I have here? You know +what I'm going to do with it? I'm going to start on you--first." He +smiled. "Birds of a feather, that's what you are--the three of you." + +The room was silent. + +"Are you coming out? Or do I have to come in and get you?" + +The clock whirred a little. + +"I hear you in there. You've got a lot of talking to do, enough for the +last three weeks. As I figure it, you owe me--" + +The door opened. The cuckoo came out fast, straight at him. Larry was +looking down, his brow wrinkled in thought. He glanced up, and the +cuckoo caught him squarely in the eye. + +Down he went, hammer and chair and everything, hitting the floor with a +tremendous crash. For a moment the cuckoo paused, its small body poised +rigidly. Then it went back inside its house. The door snapped tight-shut +after it. + +The man lay on the floor, stretched out grotesquely, his head bent over +to one side. Nothing moved or stirred. The room was completely silent, +except, of course, for the ticking of the clock. + + * * * * * + +"I see," Doris said, her face tight. Bob put his arm around her, +steadying her. + +"Doctor," Bob said, "can I ask you something?" + +"Of course," the doctor said. + +"Is it very easy to break your neck, falling from so low a chair? It +wasn't very far to fall. I wonder if it might not have been an accident. +Is there any chance it might have been--" + +"Suicide?" the doctor rubbed his jaw. "I never heard of anyone +committing suicide that way. It was an accident; I'm positive." + +"I don't mean suicide," Bob murmured under his breath, looking up at the +clock on the wall. "I meant _something else_." + +But no one heard him. + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + This etext was produced from _Fantastic Universe_ January 1954. + Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. + copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and + typographical errors have been corrected without note. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Beyond the Door, by Philip K. 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