Top of the Stairs
"What the hell is at the top of the stairs?" I wondered out loud as I clicked and clacked up each marble step. I had caught a glimpse of my hairline and retinas in the mirror on the wall next to the cresting ascending staircase. I had no wish to walk into this room and see a man I had never known.
A letter came 4 days ago. I had no idea who the name on the envelope belonged to but it was personally penned and stamped so I opened it and inside I found a white card with the name "Buster Donald" embossed in raised type face. There was no title. There was only the name and on the back it read, "172 Avondale Drive. I have something for you."
I took a few more steps to reach the top. A maid in a standard French outfit came over and asked to take my coat. She handed me a piece of paper. On it was written this:
The great Archimedes was once told to find out whether a gift given to the Emperor was solid gold. He studied for years on how to possibly determine how to tell something was gold.
His wife saw his trouble and one day told him to take a bath. He was in the tub trying to relax when he moved his body and saw the water rise. He leaped from the bath and ran down the streets soaking wet and screaming, "Density! Density! Density!" He barged into the Emperor's chamber and explained how to test the validity of Gold.
I smiled a little and folded the paper up neatly and placed it into my pockets. The fit was tight, as I had not worn the suit in a long time, and had since put on some inches to my waist.
I was standing in front of two double doors and I knocked. I heard no answer. I knocked again and still there was no answer. I opened the right door slightly while slightly tapping on it and saying, "Hello, Mr. Donald?" There was no answer. I saw that the curtains were all pulled wide open and judging by the sun it was about 2:30.
As I entered the center of the room I saw a silhouette dart across a silk screen placed in the North West corner. I wielded myself and saw another silhouette, too fast to make out any distinguishing features, blow passed my back and I could feel a slight breeze. I whirled around and around again and continued to see strange shadows. I walked over to a desk that had papers blowing around from the commotion. Under a paperweight of Icarus I saw a note that read, "Freedom is in you."
As I turned around, I saw a naked little man with a faltering bathrobe skip, and land into a run. I slightly jogged to the thrown open double doors and only saw little wet footprints tracing his escape down the stairs and out the front door.
I heard cries of "Eureka! Eureka!" as he ran out into the world.
