Thirty Degrees Cattywonkus

Thirty Degrees Cattywonkus by James Bell - It doesn't take a heap of leaving to make any house a nightmare. One vanishing door will do nastily. It was a tremendous house. And they were newlyweds. And were still a mite flighty. And for a while that accounted for the whole thing. At the moment, it seemed to Ernie Lane that in a house which even the real estate agent said had "either" eleven or twelve rooms, it was quite conceivable that he and Melinee had overlooked that extra room. After all, they had only been living at 1312 Cedar Lane for four days and had hardly had time to make a complete survey of the place. Now it was quite different. For Ernie Lane had stopped walking hurriedly past that extra door, had stopped giving it only casual curiosity, had even stopped wondering afterward. This night he had come home a bit tired, gone directly to greet his loving wife, and then decided to put a stop to the gnawing question. While Melinee fried the chicken, Ernie walked carefully and wordlessly to the dim hallway. He went past the staircase, past the telephone, to the darkest spot between the living room and the study. He stood for a strange moment—there was no extra door. He felt the refinished wall, his fingertips searching for hidden panels. There was none. "Supper's ready," Melinee called. "Ernie?" But it had been there last night, the night before, the night before that, and the very first night the real estate agent brought them over. In fact, he recalled, that was the reason the agent had been uncertain about the number of rooms. And why had he passed it off as a joke, simply turning from the extra door without opening it?