Abstract:  A very short story about a little boy and a third 
floor carpet in an old house.  

A family moved into an old house years ago with a young son.

It was a three story thing, built years and years ago when 
the area was the location of wealthy and powerful people who 
wanted to live in their power and glory near the city.

But as the years went by, the rich people moved out, and 
onto richer, newer, areas.  And the line of old mini- 
mansions fell into poverty and disrepair.  Their original 
fortresslike construction however, held them in substantial 
good stead against the subsequent poor occupants wear and 
tear who did not have the wealth for the constant attention 
and maintenance that things of wood require.

It is a typical story of many old houses of many old 
neighborhoods of many old cities.

The parents of the young child lived mostly in the first two 
floors of the old house.  The kitchen was on the first floor 
where the meals were prepared and where everybody sat next 
to everybody to eat, and where everybody all listened to the 
small radio when it worked, and when there wasn't too much 
static, and when the father wasn't reading to them.

The dinner table on the first floor was another place where 
the father read to his family, sometimes in the mornings but 
mostly in the evenings, in an effort to inculcate into his 
family, the events of the world around them.

A few additional rooms were on the first floor as well, a 
den and another room which was used variously throughout 
time, but currently found use as a sewing room by the 
current woman of the house.  

The bedrooms were all on the second floor, as was usual in 
that type of house, but the house had bathrooms on the first 
two floors.

The third floor was really just a very large gabled 
converted attic and actually the largest room by far in the 
house and that is where the young boy spent most of the year 
recreationally reading the books in the house when the attic 
didn't get too hot.  When it was cold and blustery outside, 
the attic always seemed to be quiet and comfortable.  But 
when it got hot, it was hot.

What did the boy read?

Well... most anything in the house that could be read.

He had several encyclopedias, some popular magazines, some 
western novels, some science fiction, some literature, some 
religious encyclopedias, and reference works, and the usual 
other books that followed poor people around as they move.

He especially read some very old cookbooks dating back to, 
and published just after the civil war.  They were very 
heavy, probably because they used lead in the ink to print 
on the pages in those days.

They were given to him personally by a very old man who 
lived in the desert now, but who used to live in the house.  
But that is another story...

The young mind slurped up most of the stuff as gospel, and 
never questioned the motives of the publishing houses in 
omitting a lot of his later discovered events and facts 
surrounding the articles and stories.

The cookbook for example, dated 1872, complained a lot about 
how rushed the meals were taken nowadays, sometimes the 
afternoon meal was taken in as short as an hour and that the 
dinner had become a total abomination, with the serving of 
all the courses at once.

The book's author also complained on how difficult it was to 
find good cooks nowadays.

What was omitted from the complaints was the fact that the 
book was published just after the civil war and there was a 
tide of industrialization sweeping the land.  All the state 
forests were being cut down in the name of technology and 
progress, and vast new lands were now under the new plow.   
Water gushed from the ancient unrefillable underground 
aquifers to raise new fields of wheat.

The religious next door neighbors said the dark barons of 
greed and the secret societies were reforming the lives of 
its old and new citizens after the holocaust of around a 
half a million dead youngsters of bullets and disease.  

Doing battle over what?

They maintained that the civil war wasn't about slavery at 
all, but about money and profit and power and glory, and 
that the condition of slavery issue was a temporary 
purgatorial condition created by the laws and judgments of 
God upon souls who didn't follow the laws of God to the 
detriment of their own souls, and their excesses and sins 
required purgation of many wrongful attitudes and practices 
before God would consider them for placement within the Holy 
Spirit that dwells upon the earth.  Many of course, because 
of their excesses, were consigned directly to the darker 
areas of existence within the confines of Hell.    

The young boy ignored their ranting because the neighbors 
lamentation and disparagements didn't seem real to the young 
boy in the city, who didn't believe in a God that caused 
that much suffering.  Suffering of that sort was obviously, 
if caused by anybody, was caused by the evil darkness of 
unbelievable malevolence that they had earlier often 
referred to.

They now all had radios that all listened to in the evening, 
and the meals were usually prepared from foods from cans and 
sometimes even with milk in glass bottles that the parents 
put, with the ice, in the new icebox.

It was a new world for the kids and with it, new hopes for 
commerce were everywhere.  The work week was shrinking to 
only 10 to 12 hours per day, and for only six days a week, 
and sometimes for only 5 and 1/2, and there was even talk of 
new holidays of rest being considered.

The young boy's name was Jude.  He was a slight skinny kid, 
well, let's not call him a 'kid'.  a kid is a goat.  Let's 
just call him a young fellow. Which is bad enough, as the 
word 'fellow' is somewhat too close to the word 'fallow'.  
And everybody knows the meaning of 'Goodfellow'.

Anyhow, all the boys in school taunted him because of his 
gentle femininity, and called him 'Judas', instead of 
'Jude'.  Or some called him instead, 'Egghead', making fun 
of his large egg shaped head.

It wasn't pleasant, but his early days had seen worse, and 
he could handle it with a smile most of the time, but 
occasionally the razzing got a bit tiresome and started him 
to shake, but he weathered the other boy's nonsense for the 
most part.

He thought them all a pretty stupid group of kids to engage 
in such mindless activities when there was so much else to 
think about.

But he figured that, that was all most of these kids were 
about anyhow.  They were just four-legged animals who had 
just gotten down from the trees, and now were having trouble 
walking on their hind legs while beating their chests.

The young Jude wasn't short of disdain.

There was a strange carpet in the upper room on the third 
floor.  It was strange because it was laid on the floor 
upside down and was patently tacked down severely.

Jude presumed that the correct side was just too old and 
stained to be laid on the upside and instead of being thrown 
out, was used as a floor covering in the third floor.  And 
as his curiosity didn't extend to household furnishings, he 
never thought to go to all the trouble to turn it over and 
look on the other side.

The muted designs on the up surface of the upside down 
carpet could only give a bare hint of what was hidden on the 
other down side of the carpet.

But the upside down carpet was soft, and clean, and warm, 
and nice to lay on while he read, often falling asleep for 
short periods, when hearing the wind noise breeze around the 
edges of the old house only to reawake and commence reading 
what had slipped out of his hands and onto the surface of 
the carpet beside him.

Most of his free time was spent reading on the carpet on the 
third floor, ending only, when he was called down for lunch 
or the evening meal by his mother.

Alone one windy day, reading on the third floor, almost 
asleep, he heard a knock downstairs on the first floor outer 
door and ignored it.  But after a time, the knock occurred 
again, this time louder.  Shit!  was the thought.  He hated 
to be interrupted, reading or napping and making his way 
downstairs, he opened the door.

Surprised, he could only stutter a little.

It was the old man.

"Well!  Hello youngster!  My how have you grown!"  

It was the old man who gave him those cookbooks standing 
there on the steps.

"I bought you a gift!"

"Can I come in?"

'Yes, yes, of course', said the boy hesitantly.

But mom and dad aren't home right now.

And lying, 'I was doing my homework.'

And politely inquiring about the old man, 'how have you 
been?  We haven't seen you for ages.'

"Been fine, all things considered." gruffed the old man.
"Just came by to show you something you should know."

oh...

Here is a book that i found in an old bookstore that i 
thought you might be interested in, given your age and 
whatnot.

"Well, thank you sir.  Looking at the cover of the book he 
noticed that there was no title on the face of the book or 
upon the spine."

Can I come in?  It is important that we go upstairs to the 
attic.

huh?

It is there that i must reveal to you a reality that you 
must be aware.

oh... well, okay... let's go up there then.

The climb to the third floor wasn't the least bit difficult 
for the old man, it seemed that he was well used to such 
climbs.

When they got to the attic the old man walked quickly to the 
edge of the carpet and knelt down along side of a corner on 
the east side.  Again, it was nailed down somewhat firmly by 
carpet tacks.

'Come here and seat yourself alongside me so you can see 
what it is that i am about to show you'

Young Jude squatted down next to the corner of the carpet 
and winced a little when the old man pulled out a large 
pocket knife and a small brass or golden hammer like device.

'Don't worry, this is to just pull out a couple of tacks so 
you can see what i am about to show you.'

The carpet tacks came out with some difficulty but when the 
tacks were out, the old man held down the carpet against the 
floor, which Jude thought strange.  There was a continuous 
small quiet whooshing sound and it seemed that some of the 
air left the attic.

'Now.  Get over here more now and keep hold of that ceiling 
joist during the time that I pull back the carpet a little.'

Holding onto the joist, young Jude squirmed as close to the 
edge of the carpet as he could.

Suddenly there was a huge whoosh as the old man pulled back 
the corner of the rug and revealed the corner of the 
topside.

What was revealed was like the corner of a window that
looked out onto the black cosmos directly, populated with 
its visible and invisible stars, silent, dark, deep, empty.

The vastness of the dark expanse of the cosmos was 
overwhelming.  It is impossible to explain the effect it has 
upon the mind's eye.  Darkness, darkness, everywhere.  
Whoosh!  suddenly a huge speeding rock flew by at 
unbelievable velocity within the view of the dark cosmos.

There seemed to be nothing between the young boy and the old 
man to protect them from the dangers of the forbidden and 
hidden alternative cosmos.

The old man struggled to put back the corner of the carpet 
down from where he had lifted it, and managed to push and 
pound the brads one by one back into the floor to hold it 
from being pulled thru.

'Did you see?!' exclaimed the old man, his voice shaking 
with excitement.

Jude remained shakenly quiet.  He was shaking again for 
sure, like when the boys all ganged up to bully him.

'What the FUCK was that?' exclaimed Jude after coming out of 
his shock.

'That is what is on the other side of the carpet.' said the 
old man.  I heard that you were spending way too much time 
on the old rug and got to worrying that it might suck you in 
to its reality.

'Its reality?' exclaimed Jude again shaking. 'THAT carpet 
has a reality?   Jesus!  was that the air leaving the room?'

Yes... said the old man slowly.  It tries to kill everything 
that lies on it.  All the silly, greedy, past owners 
breathed their last over the carpet.  They are All gone 
now...   all...

It is warm.  It feels good.  It is comfortable.  It lulls 
you to sleep.  It kills.

'Holy Shit!' exclaimed Jude again.  Scrabbling backwards 
away to the edge of the roof away from his pile of books 
still in the center of the carpet.

Jude pushed his books off the rug with an old push carpet 
cleaner handle and retrieved them.

The old man and the young boy left the attic at once.  Jude 
found the key to the attic door and locked it.  He never 
went up there again.

While Jude was putting the key back in the desk, the old man 
made his way to the front door and waited.

'Good bye son' the old man exclaimed, 'Stick your nose into 
that new book i gave you when you have time, you might find 
it interesting'.

Legs weak and still shaking, Jude made his way outside with 
the old man and thanked him for the book and the discovery, 
then watched as the old man walked away.

'Are you going home now back to the desert'?

'Yes... that is my home now, 'til God calls.

From afar down the path, the old man turned around a waved a 
second goodbye to Jude.  Jude acknowledged the wave and 
waved back.

Jude watched the old man walk down the path and disappear 
into the small forest that lay between the house and the 
village.  The town lay beyond that.  



The family continued to live in the old house. The boy was 
in his late twenties now and became situated, in their 
opinion, in a substantially meritorious job.

It came to pass that one day, arriving home late one night 
from his job's increasing responsibilities, that he noticed 
in the front entryway, a huge rolled carpet.  At first, 
nonplused, Jude couldn't figure out what the carpet was 
doing in the front room of the old house.

But then the thought occurred to him that his parents must 
have purchased it for installation.  Or perhaps the owner of 
the house purchased it for installation for the family.  
They had been living there for quite sometime but the owners 
usually left such upkeep to the renters.

Not wanting to wake his parents, he went to the icebox to 
see what was left over from dinner in order to have a small 
meal before going to bed.  Alas, their wasn't a thing there.  

Disappointed, Jude went to bed that night with just a cup of 
tea and without any dinner.  Actually, it was early in the 
morning when he went to bed, so probably, it would have been 
a very, very, early, breakfast cup of tea, prior to 
retiring.

Upon waking the next morning Jude went down to the kitchen 
to see what was for breakfast.  But neither his mom or dad 
were there.  Alarmed, he called out to his mom, and then to 
his dad.

Neither responded, concerned, he walked out to where the car 
was parked to see if they had gone anywhere, perhaps to the 
market?, a store?, a hospital?  The car was parked in its 
place.

Anxious now, he walked to their bedroom to see if they were 
still sleeping.  Opening their bedroom door slowly so as to 
not awake them if asleep, he peeked in.  The bed was still 
made.

No one had slept there last night.

Jude raced around the rooms of the old house calling out his 
parents names, ever louder and louder.  Panting, he came to 
the front of the house again, face to face with the new 
standing rolled up carpet.  

It dawned on him that he hadn't looked in the attic for his 
parents.  But they would have heard him calling if they were 
up there and responded.  Plus they wouldn't have left a 
perfectly made up bed and the kitchen would have shown some 
activity if they were present.

Jude had avoided the attic since the old man's visit years 
ago.  He told his parents about the event but they just 
chided him, and were in fact glad that he stopped reading so 
much up there in that stuffy old attic and got on with 
living, and into preparing himself for some sort of gainful 
employment.

By the time Jude reached the second floor on his way up to 
the attic, he remembered that the attic was locked.  

Stopping, he tried to remember where the key to the attic 
was.

Retracing his steps, he found the desk where the key had 
lain for many years, in a bottom drawer and pushed back 
towards the rear of the drawer.

Overpulling on the drawer to open it, the drawer landed on 
the floor, revealing the whole contents within the drawer.  
The key was not there.

Resolving to open the attic door by force, Jude ran up the 
stairs to the attic door, and lo!  the key was already in 
the door, and the door was very slightly partially ajar.

Jude yanked, and the door flew open.

The attic revealed itself unchanged.  Not a thing out of 
place.  Exactly as he had left it years ago.  A few 
forgotten books still lay off to one side on the attic 
floor.

Dust and cobwebs were everywhere.

except...

Near the same corner of the carpet that the old man had once 
pulled up, there was a newish looking tack hammer, an a new 
shiny pry bar on the floor near the patently dust free clean 
corner and cobweb free part of the carpet.

The two tools seemed overly heavy for such use and were much 
heavier than the old man brought years ago.  The tools still 
had the cost tags glued onto the handles.

The tags indicated that the tools had been purchased in the 
village at the harness and feed store, but no bag or receipt 
could be seen in the attic nor was one found downstairs 
during a later search.

But, time had run out on him.  It was time to go to work 
now.  His responsibilities demanded it.  Perhaps his parents 
had just gone for a long walk and would return soon.



Upon his return to the house after work the parents were 
still absent.  Concerned, he called the town authorities to 
report their absence.  They showed up at the house, were 
shown the house, including the attic, without any concern, 
they took the report and told Jude that if the parents 
showed up later to call in so they could close the absent 
report.

The parents never came back home, from wherever they went.  
Jude's loss diminished over the years as his work took most 
of his energy and attention.  After a number of years, to 
facilitate his financials, he had his parents declared dead 
and assumed charge of the contracts and their financial 
affairs, for one becoming the primary lessee of the old 
mansion.

Jude inherited some small accounts and he was convinced that 
there were more accounts but they vanished during the 
parents long absence

Jude continued to live in and on the first two floors of the 
ancient mansion for many more years until he retired.

A decade later his finances fell on hard times and he was 
forced to notify the institutional owners that he would have 
to move to lesser living quarters.  Jude didn't know where 
to go but he heard of a very inexpensive place to rent that 
was within his means.  It turned out that it was inexpensive 
because it was in the desert.  It was a substantially lonely 
and isolated place, but it suited his temperament.

Later that month, after his notification, the institutional 
owners introduced him to the young family that would be the 
new occupants of the old house.  The young family had a 
young son who liked to read, which immediately interested 
the old man in the future welfare of the young son.  He told 
the parents to keep him informed of the young boys progress.

During the courtesies exchange he gave the young man some 
old cookbooks that were given to him as a youngster by an 
old man when his family moved into the house many years ago.  

Jude's stay in the desert was uneventful.  The years passed, 
and in due course he received a short note from the parents 
that alarmed him.  It seemed the boy had discovered the 
attic and was spending a lot of time up there reading.

He set out immediately on foot for the house near the 
village where he had lived as a young boy as he no longer 
had the means for a carriage or hired transportation.

As he approached the house, it appeared deserted.  He walked 
up the steps and knocked on the door.  There was no answer.  
Waiting awhile, he knocked again, this time louder.


It was young Jude who answered the door and Surprised, he 
could only stutter a little.

It was the old man who lived there once thought Jude.

"Well!  Hello youngster!  My how have you grown!"  

It was the old man who gave him those cookbooks standing 
there on the steps.

"I bought you a gift!"

"Can I come in?"

'Yes, yes, of course', said the boy hesitantly.

But mom and dad aren't home right now.

And lying, 'I was doing my homework.'

And politely inquiring about the old man, 'how have you 
been?  We haven't seen you for ages.'

"Been fine, all things considered." gruffed the old man.
"Just came by to show you something you should know."

oh...

Here is a book that i found in an old bookstore that i 
thought you might be interested in, given your age and 
whatnot.

"Well, thank you sir.  Looking at the cover of the book he 
noticed that there was no title on the face of the book or 
upon the spine."

Can I come in?  It is important that we go upstairs to the 
attic.

huh?

It is there that i must reveal to you a reality that you 
must be aware.

oh... well, okay... let's go up there then.

The climb to the third floor wasn't the least bit difficult 
for the old man, it seemed that he was well used to such 
climbs.

When they got to the attic the old man walked quickly to the 
edge of the carpet and knelt down along side of a corner on 
the east side.  Again, it was nailed down somewhat firmly by 
carpet tacks.

'Come here and seat yourself alongside me so you can see 
what it is that i am about to show you'

Young Jude squatted down next to the corner of the carpet 
and winced a little when the old man pulled out a large 
pocket knife and a small brass or golden hammer like device.

'Don't worry, this is to just pull out a couple of tacks so 
you can see what i am about to show you.'

The carpet tacks came out with some difficulty but when the 
tacks were out, the old man held down the carpet against the 
floor, which Jude thought strange.  There was a continuous 
small quiet whooshing sound and it seemed that some of the 
air left the attic.

'Now.  Get over here more now and keep hold of that ceiling 
joist during the time that I pull back the carpet a little.'

Holding onto the joist, young Jude squirmed as close to the 
edge of the carpet as he could.

Suddenly there was a huge whoosh as the old man pulled back 
the corner of the rug and revealed the corner of the 
topside.

What was revealed was like the corner of a window that
looked out onto the black cosmos directly, populated with 
its visible and invisible stars, silent, dark, deep, empty.

The vastness of the dark expanse of the cosmos was 
overwhelming.  It is impossible to explain the effect it has 
upon the mind's eye.  Darkness, darkness, everywhere.  
Whoosh!  suddenly a huge speeding rock flew by at 
unbelievable velocity within the view of the dark cosmos.

There seemed to be nothing between the young boy and the old 
man to protect them from the dangers of the forbidden and 
hidden alternative cosmos.

The old man struggled to put back the corner of the carpet 
down from where he had lifted it, and managed to push and 
pound the brads one by one back into the floor to hold it 
from being pulled thru.

'Did you see?!' exclaimed the old man, his voice shaking 
with excitement.

Jude remained shakenly quiet.  He was shaking again for 
sure, like when the boys all ganged up to bully him.

'What the FUCK was that?' exclaimed Jude after coming out of 
his shock.

'That is what is on the other side of the carpet.' said the 
old man.  I heard that you were spending way too much time 
on the old rug and got to worrying that it might suck you in 
to its reality.

'Its reality?' exclaimed Jude again shaking. 'THAT carpet 
has a reality?   Jesus!  was that the air leaving the room?'

Yes... said the old man slowly.  It tries to kill everything 
that lies on it.  All the silly, greedy, past owners 
breathed their last over the carpet.  They are All gone 
now...   all...

It is warm.  It feels good.  It is comfortable.  It lulls 
you to sleep.  It kills.

'Holy Shit!' exclaimed Jude again.  Scrabbling backwards 
away to the edge of the roof away from his pile of books 
still in the center of the carpet.

Jude pushed his books off the rug with an old push carpet 
cleaner handle and retrieved them.

The old man and the young boy left the attic at once.  Jude 
found the key to the attic door and locked it.  He never 
went up there again.

While Jude was putting the key back in the desk, the old man 
made his way to the front door and waited.

'Good bye son' the old man exclaimed, 'Stick your nose into 
that new book i gave you when you have time, you might find 
it interesting'.

Legs weak and still shaking, Jude made his way outside with 
the old man and thanked him for the book and the discovery, 
then watched as the old man walked away.

'Are you going home now back to the desert'?

'Yes... that is my home now, 'til God calls.

From afar down the path, the old man turned around a waved a 
second goodbye to Jude.  Jude acknowledged the wave and 
waved back.

Jude watched the old man walk down the path and disappear 
into the small forest that lay between the house and the 
village.  The town lay beyond that.  



The family continued to live in the old house. The boy was 
in his late twenties now and became situated, in their 
opinion, in a substantially meritorious job.

It came to pass that one day, arriving home late one night 
from his job's increasing responsibilities, that he noticed 
in the front entryway, a huge rolled carpet.  At first, 
nonplused, Jude couldn't figure out what the carpet was 
doing in the front room of the old house.

But then the thought occurred to him that his parents must 
have purchased it for installation.  Or perhaps the owner of 
the house purchased it for installation for the family.  
They had been living there for quite sometime but the owners 
usually left such upkeep to the renters.

Not wanting to wake his parents, he went to the icebox to 
see what was left over from dinner in order to have a small 
meal before going to bed.  Alas, their wasn't a thing there.  

Disappointed, Jude went to bed that night with just a cup of 
tea and without any dinner.  Actually, it was early in the 
morning when he went to bed, so probably, it would have been 
a very, very, early, breakfast cup of tea, prior to 
retiring.

Upon waking the next morning Jude went down to the kitchen 
to see what was for breakfast.  But neither his mom or dad 
were there.  Alarmed, he called out to his mom, and then to 
his dad.

Neither responded, concerned, he walked out to where the car 
was parked to see if they had gone anywhere, perhaps to the 
market?, a store?, a hospital?  The car was parked in its 
place.

Anxious now, he walked to their bedroom to see if they were 
still sleeping.  Opening their bedroom door slowly so as to 
not awake them if asleep, he peeked in.  The bed was still 
made.

No one had slept there last night.

Jude raced around the rooms of the old house calling out his 
parents names, ever louder and louder.  Panting, he came to 
the front of the house again, face to face with the new 
standing rolled up carpet.  

It dawned on him that he hadn't looked in the attic for his 
parents.  But they would have heard him calling if they were 
up there and responded.  Plus they wouldn't have left a 
perfectly made up bed and the kitchen would have shown some 
activity if they were present.

Jude had avoided the attic since the old man's visit years 
ago.  He told his parents about the event but they just 
chided him, and were in fact glad that he stopped reading so 
much up there in that stuffy old attic and got on with 
living, and into preparing himself for some sort of gainful 
employment.

By the time Jude reached the second floor on his way up to 
the attic, he remembered that the attic was locked.  

Stopping, he tried to remember where the key to the attic 
was.

Retracing his steps, he found the desk where the key had 
lain for many years, in a bottom drawer and pushed back 
towards the rear of the drawer.

Overpulling on the drawer to open it, the drawer landed on 
the floor, revealing the whole contents within the drawer.  
The key was not there.

Resolving to open the attic door by force, Jude ran up the 
stairs to the attic door, and lo!  the key was already in 
the door, and the door was very slightly partially ajar.

Jude yanked, and the door flew open.

The attic revealed itself unchanged.  Not a thing out of 
place.  Exactly as he had left it years ago.  A few 
forgotten books still lay off to one side on the attic 
floor.

Dust and cobwebs were everywhere.

except...

Near the same corner of the carpet that the old man had once 
pulled up, there was a newish looking tack hammer, an a new 
shiny pry bar on the floor near the patently dust free clean 
corner and cobweb free part of the carpet.

The two tools seemed overly heavy for such use and were much 
heavier than the old man brought years ago.  The tools still 
had the cost tags glued onto the handles.

The tags indicated that the tools had been purchased in the 
village at the harness and feed store, but no bag or receipt 
could be seen in the attic nor was one found downstairs 
during a later search.

But, time had run out on him.  It was time to go to work 
now.  His responsibilities demanded it.  Perhaps his parents 
had just gone for a long walk and would return soon.



Upon his return to the house after work the parents were 
still absent.  Concerned, he called the town authorities to 
report their absence.  They showed up at the house, were 
shown the house, including the attic, without any concern, 
they took the report and told Jude that if the parents 
showed up later to call in so they could close the absent 
report.

The parents never came back home, from wherever they went.  
Jude's loss diminished over the years as his work took most 
of his energy and attention.  After a number of years, to 
facilitate his financials, he had his parents declared dead 
and assumed charge of the contracts and their financial 
affairs, for one becoming the primary lessee of the old 
mansion.

Jude inherited some small accounts and he was convinced that 
there were more accounts but they vanished during the 
parents long absence

Jude continued to live in and on the first two floors of the 
ancient mansion for many more years until he retired.

A decade later his finances fell on hard times and he was 
forced to notify the institutional owners that he would have 
to move to lesser living quarters.  Jude didn't know where 
to go but he heard of a very inexpensive place to rent that 
was within his means.  It turned out that it was inexpensive 
because it was in the desert.  It was a substantially lonely 
and isolated place, but it suited his temperament.

Later that month, after his notification, the institutional 
owners introduced him to the young family that would be the 
new occupants of the old house.  The young family had a 
young son who liked to read, which immediately interested 
the old man in the future welfare of the young son.  He told 
the parents to keep him informed of the young boys progress.

During the courtesies exchange he gave the young man some 
old cookbooks that were given to him as a youngster by an 
old man when his family moved into the house many years ago.  

Jude's stay in the desert was uneventful.  The years passed, 
and in due course he received a short note from the parents 
that alarmed him.  It seemed the boy had discovered the 
attic and was spending a lot of time up there reading.

He set out immediately on foot for the house near the 
village where he had lived as a young boy as he no longer 
had the means for a carriage or hired transportation.

As he approached the house, it appeared deserted.  He walked 
up the steps and knocked on the door.  There was no answer.  
Waiting awhile, he knocked again, this time louder.

It was young Jude who answered the door and Surprised, he 
could only stutter a little.

It was the old man who lived there once thought Jude.

"Well!  Hello youngster!  My how have you grown!"  

It was the old man who gave him those cookbooks standing 
there on the steps.

"I bought you a gift!"

"Can I come in?"

'Yes, yes, of course', said the boy hesitantly.

But mom and dad aren't home right now.

And lying, 'I was doing my homework.'

And politely inquiring about the old man, 'how have you 
been?  We haven't seen you for ages.'

"Been fine, all things considered." gruffed the old man.
"Just came by to show you something you should know."

oh...

Here is a book that i found in an old bookstore that i 
thought you might be interested in, given your age and 
whatnot.

"Well, thank you sir.  Looking at the cover of the book he 
noticed that there was no title on the face of the book or 
upon the spine."

Can I come in?  It is important that we go upstairs to the 
attic.

huh?

It is there that i must reveal to you a reality that you 
must be aware.

oh... well, okay... let's go up there then.

The climb to the third floor wasn't the least bit difficult 
for the old man, it seemed that he was well used to such 
climbs.

When they got to the attic the old man walked quickly to the 
edge of the carpet and knelt down along side of a corner on 
the east side.  Again, it was nailed down somewhat firmly by 
carpet tacks.

'Come here and seat yourself alongside me so you can see 
what it is that i am about to show you'

Young Jude squatted down next to the corner of the carpet 
and winced a little when the old man pulled out a large 
pocket knife and a small brass or golden hammer like device.

'Don't worry, this is to just pull out a couple of tacks so 
you can see what i am about to show you.'

The carpet tacks came out with some difficulty but when the 
tacks were out, the old man held down the carpet against the 
floor, which Jude thought strange.  There was a continuous 
small quiet whooshing sound and it seemed that some of the 
air left the attic.

'Now.  Get over here more now and keep hold of that ceiling 
joist during the time that I pull back the carpet a little.'

Holding onto the joist, young Jude squirmed as close to the 
edge of the carpet as he could.

Suddenly there was a huge whoosh as the old man pulled back 
the corner of the rug and revealed the corner of the 
topside.

What was revealed was like the corner of a window that
looked out onto the black cosmos directly, populated with 
its visible and invisible stars, silent, dark, deep, empty.

The vastness of the dark expanse of the cosmos was 
overwhelming.  It is impossible to explain the effect it has 
upon the mind's eye.  Darkness, darkness, everywhere.  
Whoosh!  suddenly a huge speeding rock flew by at 
unbelievable velocity within the view of the dark cosmos.

There seemed to be nothing between the young boy and the old 
man to protect them from the dangers of the forbidden and 
hidden alternative cosmos.

The old man struggled to put back the corner of the carpet 
down from where he had lifted it, and managed to push and 
pound the brads one by one back into the floor to hold it 
from being pulled thru.

'Did you see?!' exclaimed the old man, his voice shaking 
with excitement.

Jude remained shakenly quiet.  He was shaking again for 
sure, like when the boys all ganged up to bully him.

'What the FUCK was that?' exclaimed Jude after coming out of 
his shock.

'That is what is on the other side of the carpet.' said the 
old man.  I heard that you were spending way too much time 
on the old rug and got to worrying that it might suck you in 
to its reality.

'Its reality?' exclaimed Jude again shaking. 'THAT carpet 
has a reality?   Jesus!  was that the air leaving the room?'

Yes... said the old man slowly.  It tries to kill everything 
that lies on it.  All the silly, greedy, past owners 
breathed their last over the carpet.  They are All gone 
now...   all...

It is warm.  It feels good.  It is comfortable.  It lulls 
you to sleep.  It kills.

'Holy Shit!' exclaimed Jude again.  Scrabbling backwards 
away to the edge of the roof away from his pile of books 
still in the center of the carpet.

Jude pushed his books off the rug with an old push carpet 
cleaner handle and retrieved them.

The old man and the young boy left the attic at once.  Jude 
found the key to the attic door and locked it.  He never 
went up there again.

While Jude was putting the key back in the desk, the old man 
made his way to the front door and waited.

'Good bye son' the old man exclaimed, 'Stick your nose into 
that new book i gave you when you have time, you might find 
it interesting'.

Legs weak and still shaking, Jude made his way outside with 
the old man and thanked him for the book and the discovery, 
then watched as the old man walked away.

'Are you going home now back to the desert'?

'Yes... that is my home now, 'til God calls.

From afar down the path, the old man turned around a waved a 
second goodbye to Jude.  Jude acknowledged the wave and 
waved back.

Jude watched the old man walk down the path and disappear 
into the small forest that lay between the house and the 
village.  The town lay beyond that.  



The family continued to live in the old house. The boy was 
in his late twenties now and became situated, in their 
opinion, in a substantially meritorious job.

It came to pass that one day, arriving home late one night 
from his job's increasing responsibilities, that he noticed 
in the front entryway, a huge rolled carpet.  At first, 
nonplused, Jude couldn't figure out what the carpet was 
doing in the front room of the old house.

But then the thought occurred to him that his parents must 
have purchased it for installation.  Or perhaps the owner of 
the house purchased it for installation for the family.  
They had been living there for quite sometime but the owners 
usually left such upkeep to the renters.

Not wanting to wake his parents, he went to the icebox to 
see what was left over from dinner in order to have a small 
meal before going to bed.  Alas, their wasn't a thing there.  

Disappointed, Jude went to bed that night with just a cup of 
tea and without any dinner.  Actually, it was early in the 
morning when he went to bed, so probably, it would have been 
a very, very, early, breakfast cup of tea, prior to 
retiring.

Upon waking the next morning Jude went down to the kitchen 
to see what was for breakfast.  But neither his mom or dad 
were there.  Alarmed, he called out to his mom, and then to 
his dad.

Neither responded, concerned, he walked out to where the car 
was parked to see if they had gone anywhere, perhaps to the 
market?, a store?, a hospital?  The car was parked in its 
place.

Anxious now, he walked to their bedroom to see if they were 
still sleeping.  Opening their bedroom door slowly so as to 
not awake them if asleep, he peeked in.  The bed was still 
made.

No one had slept there last night.

Jude raced around the rooms of the old house calling out his 
parents names, ever louder and louder.  Panting, he came to 
the front of the house again, face to face with the new 
standing rolled up carpet.  

It dawned on him that he hadn't looked in the attic for his 
parents.  But they would have heard him calling if they were 
up there and responded.  Plus they wouldn't have left a 
perfectly made up bed and the kitchen would have shown some 
activity if they were present.

Jude had avoided the attic since the old man's visit years 
ago.  He told his parents about the event but they just 
chided him, and were in fact glad that he stopped reading so 
much up there in that stuffy old attic and got on with 
living, and into preparing himself for some sort of gainful 
employment.

By the time Jude reached the second floor on his way up to 
the attic, he remembered that the attic was locked.  

Stopping, he tried to remember where the key to the attic 
was.

Retracing his steps, he found the desk where the key had 
lain for many years, in a bottom drawer and pushed back 
towards the rear of the drawer.

Overpulling on the drawer to open it, the drawer landed on 
the floor, revealing the whole contents within the drawer.  
The key was not there.

Resolving to open the attic door by force, Jude ran up the 
stairs to the attic door, and lo!  the key was already in 
the door, and the door was very slightly partially ajar.

Jude yanked, and the door flew open.

The attic revealed itself unchanged.  Not a thing out of 
place.  Exactly as he had left it years ago.  A few 
forgotten books still lay off to one side on the attic 
floor.

Dust and cobwebs were everywhere.

except...

Near the same corner of the carpet that the old man had once 
pulled up, there was a newish looking tack hammer, an a new 
shiny pry bar on the floor near the patently dust free clean 
corner and cobweb free part of the carpet.

The two tools seemed overly heavy for such use and were much 
heavier than the old man brought years ago.  The tools still 
had the cost tags glued onto the handles.

The tags indicated that the tools had been purchased in the 
village at the harness and feed store, but no bag or receipt 
could be seen in the attic nor was one found downstairs 
during a later search.

But, time had run out on him.  It was time to go to work 
now.  His responsibilities demanded it.  Perhaps his parents 
had just gone for a long walk and would return soon.



Upon his return to the house after work the parents were 
still absent.  Concerned, he called the town authorities to 
report their absence.  They showed up at the house, were 
shown the house, including the attic, without any concern, 
they took the report and told Jude that if the parents 
showed up later to call in so they could close the absent 
report.

The parents never came back home, from wherever they went.  
Jude's loss diminished over the years as his work took most 
of his energy and attention.  After a number of years, to 
facilitate his financials, he had his parents declared dead 
and assumed charge of the contracts and their financial 
affairs, for one becoming the primary lessee of the old 
mansion.

Jude inherited some small accounts and he was convinced that 
there were more accounts but they vanished during the 
parents long absence

Jude continued to live in and on the first two floors of the 
ancient mansion for many more years until he retired.

A decade later his finances fell on hard times and he was 
forced to notify the institutional owners that he would have 
to move to lesser living quarters.  Jude didn't know where 
to go but he heard of a very inexpensive place to rent that 
was within his means.  It turned out that it was inexpensive 
because it was in the desert.  It was a substantially lonely 
and isolated place, but it suited his temperament.

Later that month, after his notification, the institutional 
owners introduced him to the young family that would be the 
new occupants of the old house.  The young family had a 
young son who liked to read, which immediately interested 
the old man in the future welfare of the young son.  He told 
the parents to keep him informed of the young boys progress.

During the courtesies exchange he gave the young man some 
old cookbooks that were given to him as a youngster by an 
old man when his family moved into the house many years ago.  

Jude's stay in the desert was uneventful.  The years passed, 
and in due course he received a short note from the parents 
that alarmed him.  It seemed the boy had discovered the 
attic and was spending a lot of time up there reading.

He set out immediately on foot for the house near the 
village where he had lived as a young boy as he no longer 
had the means for a carriage or hired transportation.

As he approached the house, it appeared deserted.  He walked 
up the steps and knocked on the door.  There was no answer.  
Waiting awhile, he knocked again, this time louder...