Through the Medicine Cabinet (3 page)

I took a quick look around. Nothing looked familiar. Then I saw a big apartment building across the street. It had a fancy canopy. It looked a whole lot like one in my own neighborhood in my own universe. The Beekman Arms Plaza Apartments. I thought maybe the doorman could help me find my way back to Zeke's. The problem was, I didn't even know Zeke's stupid address. All I knew was that it would probably be like mine. Only a little different.

I ran to the building. But there wasn't any doorman. In fact, there wasn't even any building! What I thought was a building was only a fake front, like a movie set. The bushes in front of it were made of green plastic. There was a tag on them. It said, “Realistic bushes. Last longer. Need less care. Better than real.”

I gulped. I felt like I was in a dream. One of those really awful ones where, no matter how hard you try to get someplace, you can't and then you puke.

In the middle of the street I saw an open manhole. There were police barricades around it. Signs said, “DANGER ON OPENING DAYS! FALLING IN WOULD BE STUPID! ALSO PAINFUL! DID WE MENTION ILLEGAL?”

Hey! This could be another way to get back to my universe! If I couldn't find my way back to Zeke's and go through the medicine cabinet, maybe I could climb through here. Going through the sewers would be pretty gross, of course. But I didn't care. At least I'd come out on the right side.

I waited for the traffic light to change. Again it took forever. Then I raced up to the manhole. Now was the time to make my move. But just as I stooped down, I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder.

I looked up. A big policeman was standing over me. He seemed kind of scary. But then I looked at the gun in his holster. It was a Super Soaker.

“You wouldn't want to get too close and fall into New York,” he said. “Now would you, sonny?”

“Oh boy, sir. I sure wouldn't want to do that,” I said.

We both laughed pretty hard at the idea I'd want to do anything as stupid as fall into New York.

“Well then, step away from there,” he said.

I did. He stayed right next to the manhole. I don't think he trusted me. But with his Super Soaker he didn't seem so scary anymore. I decided to ask his help.

“Um, Officer,” I said, “I'm kind of lost. I was on my way home. But I must have taken a wrong turn or something.”

“What's your address, son?” he asked.

“My address?”

“Yes.”

“Uh, well, I'm not exactly sure,” I said. “I mean it seems to have temporarily slipped my mind.”

“Your address has slipped your mind?”

“Temporarily.”

He looked at me strangely. But he listened while I described Zeke's building.

“Oh, I know the one you mean,” he said. “I'll take you there.”

He took me by the hand. Then he led me down the block and around the corner.

There it was, Zeke's building! I thanked him all over the place, and then I took off. He was probably glad to get rid of me.

Right in front of Zeke's building was a newsstand. It was just like the one in front of my own building. On the front page of all the newspapers were big headlines:

“DANGER! OPENING DAY ARRIVES! CITIZENS WARNED NOT TO TAKE CHANCES!”

Danger? What danger? I picked up a paper and started to read.

“Today, in the early hours of the morning, citizens of Newer York will once again be able to peek through any of several openings and actually observe life in our sister universe. ‘Do not attempt to cross over into the alternate universe!' warns Professor Roland Fenster at the Newer York Institute of Parallel Universes. ‘The openings should appear somewhere in the vicinity of 6:00 A.M. They will then shut down tight again approximately two hours later. Once shut, they will not reopen for as many as thirty years. Thirty years would be one heck of a long time to spend in a universe that's rumored to be better than ours, but isn't. '”

I looked at my watch. Yikes! It was 7:45 A.M. I had just fifteen minutes before the cab came and Zeke left for Florida with my dad. And before the doors to my universe slammed shut for thirty years!

I raced into Zeke's building.

 

 

 

I
arrived back in Zeke's apartment out of breath. I dropped Zeke's dad's cleaning in the hallway. I raced into the bathroom.

I pushed hard against the back of the medicine cabinet. But I couldn't make the darned thing budge. Zeke obviously knew more about traveling between universes than I did!

And then I heard somebody behind me. I whirled around to find Zeke's dad looking at me strangely.

“Zeke,” he said, “what are you doing?”

Should I tell him the truth? Could I trust him? Or was he the enemy? I didn't know. But time was running out. And I didn't see that I had much choice.

“Listen, sir,” I said, “this is going to sound sort of incredible. But it's the truth, so help me.”

“All right, Zeke,” he said. “But make it fast. We have less than fifteen minutes before the cab comes.”

“OK,” I said. “First of all, I'm not your son, Zeke. I'm somebody else who looks just like him. And my name is Zack. I live in the parallel universe. My dad and I were getting ready to go to the Yankees' training camp. Just like you and Zeke were getting ready to go to the Yunkees' training camp. Only I dropped my retainer through the medicine cabinet. I lost it, the same as Zeke lost his.”

Zeke's dad's mouth dropped open. He smacked his forehead with his hand.

“I can't be-lieve it! ” he said.

“It's true, though, sir,” I said. “I swear.”

“Zeke has lost his retainer?” he said in a dazed voice. “That's the tenth one so far this year.”

Wow! Zeke was even worse than me!

“Do you know how much those things cost?” he asked.

“Either twelve hundred dollars or a hundred and twelve dollars,” I said quickly. “But didn't you hear the other stuff I told you?”

“Yes, yes, yes. Of course I did,” he said. “Your name is Zack. You live in the parallel universe on the other side of the medicine cabinet, blah, blah, blah.”

“You don't believe me, do you?” I said.

“Why shouldn't I believe you?” he said. “Everybody in Newer York knows about your universe. It's not like it's a big secret or anything. And it isn't any better than ours either, by the way.”

Boy, this was a touchy subject with these guys!

“I never said it was better,” I said. “Look, sir, you seem to know a lot about parallel universes. So maybe you know how to slip back through the medicine cabinet to mine. Like Zeke did just now.”

“Zeke?” he said. “He crossed over?”

I nodded. I really had Zeke's dad's attention now.

“But it's almost 7:50!” Zeke's dad smacked his forehead again. “At 8:00 Opening Day will shut down completely! ”

“My point exactly, sir,” I said. “I'd be miserable if that happened. Not that I wouldn't love living here, I mean. Because I think it's at least as good as my universe. And maybe even better. But the thing is, I'd really miss my mom and dad.”

“OK, OK,” said Zeke's dad. “This is what you have to do. Put your hand on the back wall of the medicine cabinet.”

I did.

“Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now visualize the back wall opening. Let me know if you feel anything.”

I did everything he said. It started to work. The wall was starting to feel kind of springy. I opened my eyes in time to see it sort of melt away.

 

 

 

“
H
i, Zack,” said a familiar face.

“Zeke!” said Zeke's dad. “Oh, thank heavens! ”

“Zeke!” I said. “Were you coming back?”

He looked embarrassed.

“I got homesick,” he said. “I mean, your dad is awfully nice, Zack. He really is. But he's not my dad. And this isn't my universe. I figured you must feel the same way. Even though Newer York is just as cool as New York.”

My dad appeared on the other side of the medicine cabinet.

“Dad!” I said.

“Hi, Zack,” said my dad. Then he turned to Zeke's dad. “Hi, Don,” he said. “Long time, no see.”

“Hi, Dan,” said Zeke's dad to my dad.

They shook hands through the medicine cabinet.

“You two
know
each other?” I asked, amazed.

“Yeah, we met when we were your age,” said Zeke's dad. “But it wasn't through a medicine cabinet. It was through a dryer in the laundromat.”

“Yeah,” said my dad. “I always wondered what happened to odd socks that got lost in the laundry. Who'd have guessed they go to the parallel universe?”

“That was quite an Opening Day,” said Zeke's dad. “Not much laundry got dried. But we sure had fun. Your dad thought I lived in the dryer.”

Both my dad and Zeke's dad started laughing their heads off.

“Uh, excuse me for interrupting,” I said. “This is all very interesting. But it's now 7:55.”

“Oh, right, right!” said Zeke's dad. He looked through the cabinet at Zeke. “Do you still want to go to the Yunkees' training camp, son?”

“I sure do!” said Zeke.

“Then let me pull you through,” said Zeke's dad.

So Zeke crawled back into his own universe. I crawled back into mine.

“I'm sorry, Zack,” said Zeke. “I was a real jerk.”

“You were,” I said. “But I forgive you.”

Cab horns were now honking on both sides of the cabinet.

“Well, so long, guys,” I said.

“See you again sometime,” said Zeke.

“Maybe at the next Opening Day,” I said.

“OK,” said Zeke.

He fished something out of his pocket. He handed it to me through the cabinet. It was my retainer!

“You swiped my retainer?” I said.

He nodded sheepishly.

“But I couldn't keep it,” he said.

“Because you knew it was wrong.”

“Yeah,” he said. “Also, it didn't fit.”

Then all of a sudden, the grandfather clock in our hallway started chiming.

It was 8:00.

We waved good-bye to each other. Then, instead of facing Zeke and his dad, I was looking at shelves with toothpaste and deodorant. I pushed hard against the back wall of the medicine cabinet. I visualized like crazy. But nothing happened.

So that's how I discovered the parallel universe. And every time I open my medicine cabinet, I think of Zeke and his dad. I kind of miss them. It's funny to think that they're so close, and yet so far away.