Won't You Guess My Name

A couple of pills and a Jack Daniels chaser will do the trick just fine, thought Janet, ignoring the fact that it was just after 9:00 a.m. She called them Mother’s Little Helpers, after a song she remembered from when she was just a little girl.

She deserved a little something to take the edge off of the day. Who could blame her? Her rotten husband had taken the kids and left. He said she needed help. She laughed at the memory. “I need help? No, you need help! Those damn kids won’t raise themselves!” she said out loud to the empty room.

After a few minutes, the world seemed to slow down, become softer and more comforting. She stood shakily surrendering to the sudden urge to spin in the center of the room with her arms outstretched. The sound of someone clearing his throat caused her to stop abruptly, so much so that she reeled sideways and had to grab the wall to keep from falling.

He stood at the entrance to the hallway, impeccably dressed in a jacket with tails and white gloved hands.

“Madam, if you please,” he said with a slight bow, gesturing for her to proceed down the hallway.

Janet could only comply. When she reached the end, she found an ornate red door, a door that had never been there before. From nowhere, the stranger appeared and opened it for her.

Inside she saw an impossibly large, circular room with doors every few feet along the circumference. They all had labels on them. One said “fame”, another “wealth” and on and on.

In answer to her questioning glance he merely said “Choose.”

He followed along behind her smiling in anticipation, careful to keep his red pointy tail hidden behind the tails of his coat.

Word count 300