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Dr Cale was at one of the other counters, preparing a fresh slide She looked toward Tansy, saying oing to need later I don’t want to spend another six weeks listening to you whine about hoon’t let you go outside"
Tansy sniffed haughtily before turning on her heel and striding back out of the rooes were configured to allow people tiracefully shut instead
"She broke her ankle once, when she tried to snowboard on a cookie tray," said Dr Cale She had the saot when she was talking about soirls can do no wrong" voice She picked up the tray with her slides and wheeled her way over to Nathan, one-handed "I have never in my life had a worse patient, and that includes myself"
"I find it hard to believe that anyone could be a worse patient than you," said Nathan, lifting his head froot the flu I thought Dad was going to lock you in the bedrooet so awareness of ?"
"Better," I said aardly, notabout how he’d left ers, but I couldn’t find the words So I blurted the first thing that came into my head, instead: "Is there a copy of Don’t Go Out Alone that I could read? People keep talking about it, and I want to knohat happens"
"Of course there is" Dr Cale put her slides down next to Nathan before she wheeled herself over to a bookcase, leaning up to pull a sli bruise off the top shelf
"What?" Nathan turned to look at her, eyes wide "You took it? I alondered where it went…"
"I had to," said Dr Cale, resting the book on her knees She s down at it "Every ti me to read it to you onethat most made me feel like I was still with rumbled Nathan
"The creepiest children’s book in the world hat made you feel connected to your family?" I asked I wasn’t quite able to keep the disbelief out of my voice After a moment to consider, I decided that I didn’t want to
"With as many times as I’d read it to Nathan? Yes" Dr Cale wheeled herself over to o Read it, and see if it helps at all"
"Can I… can I take it with me e leave?" asked Nathan hesitantly My heart leapt at the confir He continued, "It’s been so long since I’ve read it I never was able to find another copy"
"I would never have found this copy if I hadn’t known the author from school," said Dr Cale "Of course you can take it It’s yours, after all I just borrowed it for a little while" She cast a professionally polite smile in my direction "If you want to sit down and read for a bit, we still have a few o," said Nathan He had the slightly unfocused tone that I normally associated with his office: the days when I’d show up before he was ready to put work to bed and leave with h I wasn’t sure it hat I actually wanted, and took a seat in the corner of the roo down at the battered copy of Don’t Go Out Alone The cover illustration shoo children--a boy and a girl--hand in hand, clearly frightened, walking through a dark, spooky forest Everything was painted in watercolor shades of blue and black, except for the children themselves They were painted in color, which just made them look more out of place, and somehow made the woods seem even darker and spookier
The story inside wasn’t irl were never na them to be careful, but to find the broken doors as soon as they could, because otherwise, they would be in trouble More notes awaited the and warning the "Coirl, lacking a better option--orfor the broken doors, no matter how many times they arned off
And then they found the on the other side: a pleasant room with a horrible er, they had the same monster in their closet, and when their parents chased it away, the monster pined until it could finally call to theh the broken doors to the Land of Monsters, where they could be a family forever The book ended with the implication that now the children would become monsters, too, and would eventually leave the Land of Monsters to find closets, and children, of their own
It tookup "That was sosorinned at the sound of , "How do you think I felt? I hat, four, the first time she read that to me?"