When All is Null and Void

Chapter Eleven

Caleb would have liked to have told people a story later on that there was a whooshing of air, that something ethereal happened when he passed the threshold of his new home, but nothing of the sort did occur. Caleb felt no different standing on the porch as he did inside. It was a house, and Alexander shut the door behind him and walked off into it. Everything had a pleasant aroma, a mixture of savory foods and cinnamon. Stacks and stacks of books filled the room. Others might have called it cluttered; Caleb could already see a system to the way the books were stacked, though. By the color of the spines.

"So many books," Caleb said, his jaw loose. He snapped it shut. It wasn't that he never saw books, but with wrist Holos, people rarely used them. They had become things of the past, used only by specific kinds of people. Caleb hadn't seen half as many books in anyone's house before. This was insane. He could tell what books were non-fiction. Their spines were darker, drabber colors. The novels, and there were stacks of only novels, filled up most of the entryway. Caleb would have been fine to sit there, but Alexander was prodding him with a shoe--when had he sat down? "There's even more back this way." With a cock of his head, Alexander led Caleb deeper into the house.

Had the books not been stacked like walls, the house might have an open floor plan. No true walls separated the living room from the kitchen, but the books created a maze from one room to the other. "Sorry about the mess," Alexander said. Caleb thought he'd meant the books, but when he glanced at his mentor he was looking at the kitchen. A single bowl sat in the white, ceramic farmhouse sink, but otherwise the counters were clear—shining even. Granite countertops, white and teal backsplash.

"I think I can forgive you," Caleb said.

Alexander clapped Caleb on the shoulder and grinned. "Your room is this way."

Off they went, through the maze of books, and up a staircase. A primitive television hung from the wall above an electric fireplace. Holos were completely flush with the wall, whereas this television was wide and flat, protruding backward. They passed a bathroom at the top of the stairs, and Caleb didn't even need to walk all the way in to see that Alexander had no issue with cleanliness.

"Oh whoa," Caleb said as they walked into his room. The bedspread was forest green, Caleb's favorite color. Bookshelves lined the wall around the bed, and a window let in weak, gray light. Sometime in the last few minutes it had begun to drizzle outside. The floors the kind of wood that clicked together for easy installation.

"You like it?"

"Yes!" Caleb said.

Alexander gave him a double fisted thumbs up before walking away. Again Caleb followed, this time to a study at the end of the hallway. Alexander didn't go inside even though the door was wide open. "I don't really use this room, but you're free to play the piano sometime." He shrugged. Caleb craned his neck to see the piano as they walked back down the hallway. Obviously he didn't need to play it now, but he knew he would.

When he was little he'd fallen in love with the way he could only play the black keys while pressing down the sustain pedal; it always came out beautiful. He was by no means a skilled pianist--he'd had a few lessons before his parents had left and was widely self-taught ever since--but had improved over the years. Reading sheet music was definitely a detriment in his learning. Maybe he could work on that. Excitement bloomed in his chest. For the first time since the day before...or whenever it was...Caleb wasn't quite so anxious or nervous.

They rounded back down the stairs and ended up in the living room once more. Two chairs faced each other across a glass coffee table, and a three cushioned couch faced an archaic television. Up close, a fine layer of dust covered the screen. Caleb wondered if Alexander had ever used it. He sat on the couch, and Alexander moved a chair so that he was situated in front of the television and across from Caleb.