Elat I

And he walks in. Just like last time when he had an appointment but this time he had no appointment and he just came in to come in. As the door shut close behind him, the snow storm became merely a swoosh heard from a distance. He tapped and wiped his boots on the mat and stepped on the carpet and waited for a little while. The little rectangular hole in the wall was luminated and he saw a hot cup of coffee sitting on the desk with the stream rolling out and upwards. But, no one has come to greet him yet.

He walked closer and rested his arms on the ledge of the rectangular hole in the wall. A bell sat there and he rang it. Ding and no one came. He waited and waited and then he looked at the door knob and thought about going in and taking a look around. Why not, he thought. He opened the door and entered. He was now on the other side of the rectangular hole in the wall. He could make appointments here, he could pretend he works here, he could do it all and all he had to do was sit and pretend like he knew what he was doing. And quite frankly, he did know. No one could say otherwise, if they did, they were foolish. He was one who knew it all before he knew anything at all.

And all he had to do was wait until someone came in. And they did. The winter snow storm went from muffled to a full swoosh as the door opened. And when the tall, big man with the winter coat came in, the room shook.

"I'm here for Dr. Hart" his big bellowing voice filled the tiny office, the door still wide open behind him.

"Oh, yes of course" Elat said. "Let me just get you set up here," He looked at the desk and saw a big purple binder. Perhaps an appointment book, he thought. Elat opened it and found a calendar in which everyday was blank except for today.

BIG MR. WILLIAM JOHNSON, was written in big, capital, green letters.

"Mr. Johnson?"

"Big Mr. William Johnson, that is" he tipped his hat at Elat.

"Okay. Yes. Well, take a seat and I'll call you when we are ready".

"Okay, big boy".

He took heavy steps and then plopped himself on a small cushioned chair with wooden arms. The front door was still wide open. Snow was flying in the room. Elat wanted to tell Big Mr. William Johnson to close it, but the man was so settled in his seat, he figured that it would be a shame to do so. So the door was left open. I'll close it when I figure out where Dr. Hart is, Elat thought.

He got up and decided to enter each of the four rooms in the back. The first one was empty with the lights off. The second one was empty with the lights off. He went into the other rooms and no one was there. Empty. Lights off. The windows were slightly cracked open. He shut the doors and walked back to the front. The man was still sitting there, patiently, staring at the carpet. Elat decided to open the binder again and see if there was a phone number he can use to call the Doctor. After turning a few pages, he landed on a blank page with only Doctor 555 535 2362 written in the center. Yes...Perfect, Elat thought. He picked up the phone and dialed the number. Elat covered the speaker and whispered to Big Mr. William Johnson,

"Getting him on the horn right now. One moment!"

The man looked at him, tipped his hat, and went back to staring at the carpet. The phone was ringing and ringing and ringing and finally a voice came on.

"Hello. This is the Doctor".

"Hello! How are you? I am — "

"I'm doing just fine. And yourself?"

"Oh, yes. Just dandy".

"Good".

There was a silence and finally Elat spoke.

"Well, I have a patient here. He seems to have an appointment".

"Mhm yes. Big Mr., right?"

"Right".

"Oh well, how is he doing?"

"I mean, yeah. He's ... great. Looks...big, manly, stable, healthy. He's sitting here. On the chair. Waiting. Patiently".

"Good to hear. Is he wearing his hat?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, he is. Yeah".

"Good".

"Yeah. Great".

"Alright, well you just tell him to call me and let him know he should feel free to come whenever he is ready".

There was a brief silence on the phone.

"Okay. Sure, I'll let him know".

"Okay, big boy. Thanks".

"Okay".

The phone clicked and Elat slowly moved the phone back to its place. He looked at Big Mr. and his eyes were now on Elat, expectantly waiting.

"Hi. Yeah, well he was happy to hear that you are here. He told me to tell you to call him and come in whenever you are ready" said Elat.

"That's great".

"Yeah".

"Alright then, big fella. I'll get out of your hair" Big Mr. William Johnson stood up, tipped his hat, walked out the door, and shut it behind him.