The back room smells like paper and coffee. Drafts are piled in uneven towers. A laptop glows on the cluttered table like a spaceship in the middle of a used bookstore.
Doris’s finger hovers over the Publish button.
Grace leans against the filing cabinet, casual as ever, like she’s been waiting for this exact moment. “You’re overthinking again.”
“If I press the button, please will see me.”
Audrey peeks out from under the table, wearing footie pajamas, pops her soother out of her mouth. “You’re scared of a button? Babies press buttons all the time. Sometimes they flush your phone down the toilet after.”
Doris rolls her eyes. Audrey grins.
Somewhere in the corner, a chair creaks. Kurt Vonnegut with wild hair and heavy eyebrows pokes up from behind a stack of manuscripts. “Do it. Worst case, they call you a lunatic.”
He disappears again, leaving the faint smell of cigarettes and ink.
“Who was that?” Doris gasps.
“House Ghost.” Grace laughs, “he approves.”
“Okay, okay,” Doris presses the Publish button. “I guess I’ll be a lunatic.”
The room holds its breath. Audrey giggles.
Grace pats the top of one paper tower like she’s blessing it. “There. First seed planted. Now we wait and see who wanders in.”
House ghost echoes, “And so it goes.”