Outside

Foiled again! Try as he might, Stewart Jones just could not open the door. However, this failed attempt would not discourage him. One way or another, he was going to go outside. His desire began about a month ago.

Stewart’s world consisted of hallways, open atriums, rooms, and doors. There were many doors. Some led to apartments like the one he and his parents lived in. Some were offices and places of business. One even went to his classroom. Steward was a very inquisitive little boy and whenever he found a door that he was unfamiliar with, he would ask his mom and dad where it went.

One day, while in the main atrium with some friends, he noticed people coming and going through a door that he had not noticed before. The next time he was passing by that door with his dad, he asked where it led to. His dad had told him it led outside. This intrigued Stewart. He had been in offices, hair salons, and even a casino once with his dad, but he had never been outside.

Being a very bright five-year-old, that night after he finished his homework, he used his computer to find out what outside was. All the references he found talked of grass, trees, animals and even warmth from the sun. The pictures were even better. It was that night he decided he was going to find a way to go outside.

That, however, was proving more difficult than Stewart first thought. His first attempt, he just walked up to the door and tried to find the doorbell or even the knob to turn. This door did not have a knob or a doorbell. All it had was a strange keypad on one side. His next attempt was to try to follow a group of people that were going through it when it was open. There was always a group of people every day or two so he didn't have to wait long. However, this failed too as a man stopped him and told him he could not pass through.

He tried again a couple of days later, but this time he tried to sneak past the man. However, the man caught him and would not let him pass. This attempt got him grounded as a man came to the apartment later that night and told his mom and dad what he had done. When they asked him why he tried going through the door, they seemed upset when he told them that he wanted to go outside. His parents grounded him and forbid him to go near that door without them.

It was a couple of days after being grounded that he was walking down one of lesser-used halls. He often came here to be alone. He even had a hiding spot where he could see the hallway, but people couldn’t see him. This is where he had stored all the treasures that any five-year-old boy would keep. There was his favorite toy spaceship, a fifty-cent piece he found in the atrium one day, and a medal that his grandfather had given him. These he had in an old shoe box.

It was while sitting in his hiding place that he noticed that one of the doors in this hallway had that same strange keypad next to it and no knob or doorbell. This made Stewart very happy as his quest for outside could continue, as his parents had said nothing about this door.

It took him another day to find a box that he could use to stand on to reach the keypad. He first just pressed keys on the keypad, but no matter what he pressed, it would not open. He did notice that the door had a small window in it. At least he could see the outside, he thought. He had to stand on the box on his tippy-toes to see through it, but what he saw was a small room with another door at the other end of it. Well two doors were not going to stop him from going it outside.

 Stewart decided that he needed to find out how to work the keypad. The next day he went to the main atrium, and being careful not to go too close to the door, (he always tried to obey his parents), he watched a man use the keypad the next time they opened the door. He saw the man pressed a set of keys and then placed his hand on section next to the keypad. Stewart knew that the keys he pressed were a password so he watched carefully when the man entered it. He even came prepared with paper and a pencil so he could write it down and not forget it.

He wanted to go try it right then but it was almost dinnertime, so it would have to wait until the next day.

The next day, when Stewart tried to enter the password, the door still did not open. He even placed his hand on the pad next to the numbers but nothing happened. He tried it several times but the results were all the same. This really disheartened him. It was looking like he was not going to make it outside. It was a couple of days later before he tried again.

This latest attempt was the brute force method. He had found an old piece of pipe and had tried to pry to door open. Putting in all the effort a five-year-old boy with boundless determination could muster, the door would not give way.

Feeling frustrated he grabbed his box and pipe and placed them in his hiding spot. He then crawled in and sat there staring at the door, as if by shear will power, he could open the door.

He did not stare long at the door as he heard the sound of people coming down the hall. People did not use this hallway very often. He waited for them to pass, but they stopped at the door.

There were four men. One man must have been hurt as two of his friends where helping him walk by supporting him by his arms. The fourth man walked to the keypad. The one man must not have been too injured as when they reached the door he began to say “No! No!” and started thrashing around.

Stewart could not hear what the other men were saying as only the one was talking loud enough for him to hear.

“But I don’t want to go outside!” Stewart heard the man say. He saw the fourth man access the keypad and the door opened.

“I’ll do anything! I’ll make it up to you, just give me another chance!” Stewart saw the one man pushed through the first door by his two friends. He could not understand the man’s reluctance to going outside. Now the man was struggling even harder.

“No! NO!” he shouted. At this point, the two big men pushed the man one final time into the little room as the door closed. One of the men that had helped the injured man looked through the little window and waved as the fourth man pushed more buttons. After about a minute, the three men left.

Stewart stayed in his hiding spot for about an hour before he ventured out. He took is box with him and looked through the little window. The little room between the doors was empty. The man was outside. He got down from his box and just walked home, leaving his box there in front of the door.

Later that night as he sat at the dinner table deep in thought, Stewart’s mom finally said, “Steward, honey, are you okay? You haven’t touched your dinner.”

Stewart had gone right to his room when he got home and stayed there until called for dinner. “Mom, Dad, I’ve been thinking. You know the doors that go outside? Well, I don’t want to go through them. I don’t want to go outside.” he said. He had been thinking all afternoon. That man went where Stewart wanted to go so bad, but something about it scared him. Maybe there is something scary about outside. Maybe there are monsters or something. It had not occurred to him that maybe the reason there were two doors to outside, could be to keep something out. No, Stewart decided that he did not ever want to go outside.

Stewart’s parents looked at each other with a look of relief. They knew that Stewart had been trying to go outside and despite their warnings, they knew him to be determined enough to eventually succeed. His mom turned back to Stewart. “That’s great honey. Your dad and I are both very glad to hear that,” she said. Then she added “But remember, here on the space station, doors to the outside are called ‘Airlocks’.”

 

Written by M.L. Chrisman 2006