92

The fifth. A story.
It is either late at night or very early in the morning. She has gotten off the train and taken a cab to the house. When she gets to the house, she walks up to the door and stands there, motionless, for a moment or two. She does not knock. She does not live here. The lights are off and a car is in the driveway. She breaks into the house, but her memory does not indicate to him how she manages to get the door open. Inside, there are stairs directly in front of the door. Her memory gives him no clue as to whether she has previously been inside the house. But she moves about with a mixture of confidence and ... joy? She climbs the stairs and finds the bedrooms. She opens a bedroom door. A woman sleeps in a large bed. A California King. Gently, the committee member whose memory he is picking, approaches the bed and bends over the woman who is sleeping in the bed. She touches the sleeping woman's shoulder and, with a subtle and yet commanding movement guides the woman to rise from the bed and to walk out of the room. Whether the woman is still asleep he is unable to discern. It is early Summer and, therefore, there is no need to wear a jacket. The committee member continues to guide the sleeping woman out of the house and into the back yard where there is a very large wooden crate. The crate is open and the door (cover? front?) lies against one of the inside walls. The committee member guides the sleeping woman into the crate and then enters the crate, herself. There is a mallot and some nails on the floor of the crate. The committee member repositions the door. It is the type of door that can be nailed into place from the inside which is what the committee member proceeds to do with a deft expertise that suggests to him that this might not be the first time she has done this. She accomplishes the nailing with complete silence. When the crate has been nailed shut, his memory shifts automatically from the committee member's perspective to his own. He watches the crate. Nothing happens. Then, he can see no more. Like a film that has come to the end of its reel, the memory ends abruptly and he is jerked out of the woman's mind.