Strangers and Shadows Read Online Free Page A

her lover, and other times, her servant.  This time it was definitely the latter.
    “Now, if I’m right,” Ava said.  “This ball is some sort of key, and I think you have to be holding it, for it to work.”
    “That’s an awfully strange looking key,  Ava.  Where did you ever get such an idea?  Did you hit your head or something?”  Asher attempted to keep her mood from escalating into full blown ire.
    “ Very funny .  Do I need to remind you who is in charge here?”  Ava said it with a playful smile, but she was only half-kidding.  She had let Asher get away with things that would never have been allowed of a man because of her relationship with him, but she was was beginning to think that maybe she had been mistaken.  He did have a point though.  The idea had come to her from out of nowhere.  She couldn’t say what had given her the notion.
    Ball in hand, Ava tried the door just as she had seen Asher do.  
    Nothing.  Not even an inkling of give. 
    Asher stepped up to the door with a grin on his face.  “Perhaps I should try it again, my lady?” he asked, not waiting for her reply.  He grabbed the handle and started to walk forward, nearly hitting his face on the door, which remained unmoved and unopened.
    Ava burst into laughter.  She couldn’t help herself.
    Asher’s face reddened at the embarrassment, and he tried the handle again, this time more forcefully, pulling and pushing with great effort.
    The door remained unmoved, unopened, and unimpressed with his struggle.
    “But I don’t understand,” Asher said, growing more annoyed with Ava by the second.  “I just opened it a moment ago.”
    “ Perhaps you should try it again ?”  Ava mocked in between laughs.
    “ Ha-ha .”  Asher tried to ignore the urge to retaliate to her sarcasm.  “Let me see that key , again.”
    Ava tossed it to him as she gasped for breath, tears streaming down her face.  She watched as Asher took the ball in his palm, walked up, grabbed the handle, twisted it and pushed it inward.
    She instantly sobered up.  “What in the bloody hell?”
    “Hah!  Looks like it likes me better,” Asher said, his wounded pride now satiated.
    “Well, I told you it was a key,” Ava said flatly, playing the game no longer and resuming the air of princess.
    “Forgive me for doubting, my Lady.”  Asher bowed his head, wondering what it was like to play a game where he actually had a snowball-in-hell’s chance of winning.
    “You should have known better... Tsk, tsk .”  Ava was still smiling when it hit her.  “Wait, how come only you can use the key?”
    “What are you talking about?” 
    She sighed.  As if he doesn’t know what I’m talking about .  She waited, staring at him.
    “I don’t know, maybe somebody else likes me too...” he offered with a smile, but Ava was perplexed.
    “You know what this means, don’t you?” Ava asked, looking for the recognition in his eyes but not finding it.
    “What?”
    “If that key was made only for your use, then it couldn’t be from our world, could it?”
    Asher thought it over for a second, seeing the logic to her point.  If it was from their world, the key would never be for the use of a man over the use of a woman.  “Only one way to find out… let’s see what’s on the other side of that door.”

Dear Diary
     
    July 8
    — So here I am, writing.  Writing about writing.  What to write about?  Wow, it’s a good thing we don’t talk in thoughts or people would never finish a conversation.  Ok, let’s start with some facts...  (just to get the ball rolling)
    My name is Frank Oberdeen, kids in high school called me Frankie “O”.  Sometimes it was just “O”, or the Big “O . ”  I’m thirty-seven, have always wanted to be a writer , but never did anything about it .   S o , here I am, stuck in an office cubicle, sorting out insurance claims.  I have two kids.  My wife died three years ago in delivery of a third child, who died