«Yes, tomorrow, please!»
At the same moment the poet cried out and turned me around to face the house, on the facade of which there was a gigantic portrait of the Writer from that Mansion.
«Nearby Alice there is only mysticism… It’s a sign!»
However, it started to rain «tomorrow», and the trip to the Mansion was postponed indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the Left Door was attracting me stronger and stronger. From time to time, I was sent strange people – writers who asked me to arrange literary parties in the Mansion, as a great opportunity to combine the desired with my direct work, but because of the epidemic, the Mansion was closed for a long time…
Repeatedly I tried to return to that sweet dream about three pairs of orange sandals, to find there the man with a small belly and a foggy face, with whom I felt happy.
In vain, I always found myself in the past, where Roman appeared sitting next to me on my right. There were a lot of people there.
«If not for the age difference,» I looked at him almost jokingly and sighed.
«What’s the difference?» he immediately interrupted me. «There is no difference!»
«I would have fallen head over heels in love with you,» I finished my sentence.
How many times did I say goodbye to him? Even in my dreams I could not allow myself anything… I didn’t want to hurt, maybe. One or both of us?
However, in a little while my Sun would have set in the last, the 12>th sector of the Astrological Clock of life. The sector of all the Secret and Unrevealed, symbolically called the Mystical Mansion or the Mysterious Island, the Portal to Another Reality. It would barely get out of there, my Sun…
«Who are you?» I asked when another Autumn crept up on me with another strange man who had come to the Union of Writers to submit his book for a competition.
The man introduced himself, whispering something in addition as quietly as passwords.
I glanced at him briefly without remembering either his first or last name, and I didn’t even catch what he whispered, because he reminded me of Roman and Ray at the same time.
«A glitch in the Matrix!» the thought flashed through my mind.
«Did you bring us the book?» I decided to clarify.
«No… Yes… But…»
«Alice, haven’t you heard?» my colleague suddenly interrupted my thoughts, tugging at the sleeve of my dress and adding distinctly in a mysterious voice, «This man is from your Old Mansion!!!»