WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:08.519 Hollo. I'm walking stories all the time. Glad you are here. 2 00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:12.679 Let's get into it. I arrived on a Thursday, just 3 00:00:12.720 --> 00:00:15.839 ahead of what the hotel calendar grandly called the Great 4 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:20.440 Lakeside Reading Retreat. I'd chosen the place, an old hotel 5 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:23.399 draped in history and likened by a broad Vermont lake, 6 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:28.039 as much out of weariness as curiosity. Retirement, despite what 7 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:31.239 people tell you, is an acquired taste, one i'd not 8 00:00:31.320 --> 00:00:35.039 quite gotten used to. My wife and I had uprooted 9 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:38.359 for her daughter's job in Minneapolis. But I'd somehow found 10 00:00:38.399 --> 00:00:41.920 myself with too many afternoons, not enough of my own chores, 11 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:45.000 and a vague ache for mystery. A week at this 12 00:00:45.119 --> 00:00:49.920 retreat sounded just right, words, walks, and hopefully a new 13 00:00:49.960 --> 00:00:54.399 notebook full of impressions to make sense of my unscheduled life. 14 00:00:54.560 --> 00:00:58.079 I'd been assigned Room seventeen. A stroke of luck, said 15 00:00:58.079 --> 00:01:00.359 missus fallen at the desk, since it were one of 16 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:04.079 the brightest with views you'll remember. She spoke in the 17 00:01:04.120 --> 00:01:07.280 polished but punctured way of someone managing the same property 18 00:01:07.319 --> 00:01:12.319 for decades, Friendly, curious, brisk, sarcastic at the edges. When 19 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:15.640 she handed me my brass key. I felt foolishly like 20 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:17.840 I ought to tip her for the privilege of mystery. 21 00:01:18.879 --> 00:01:21.480 The climb to the second floor was a lesson in patience. 22 00:01:21.879 --> 00:01:25.359 The stairs creaked, the carpet whispered with the footprints of years, 23 00:01:25.640 --> 00:01:27.799 and shadows seemed to cling to the base boards in 24 00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:31.480 odd places. The door to seventeen still bore a faint 25 00:01:31.560 --> 00:01:36.439 stencil faded from gold. Inside the room had a pleasing geometry, 26 00:01:36.760 --> 00:01:40.439 two upholstered chairs, a walnut desk, a reading lamp with 27 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:44.040 a slightly cracked parchment shade, and a wide window set 28 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:47.519 deep in a creamy wall. I set my suit case 29 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:50.760 on the sturdy bed spread and circled the room, tracing 30 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:54.079 the edge of a dustless bureau, as if by old reflex. 31 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:58.120 The window drew me almost before I'd finished unzipping the bag. 32 00:01:59.280 --> 00:02:02.200 I peered out. The view at first matched every hope 33 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:05.159 I had carried with me. Bare trees, their branches and 34 00:02:05.239 --> 00:02:07.920 etching against the sky, slouched over the winter d old 35 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:11.520 garden beyond ice clung to the edge of the wide lake, 36 00:02:11.800 --> 00:02:15.400 and gentle snow tumbled silently, thinning as it crossed the view. 37 00:02:15.960 --> 00:02:19.039 The whole landscape had that hushed particular to a March snow, 38 00:02:19.520 --> 00:02:22.639 neither deep nor determined, but enough to sketch the ground 39 00:02:22.680 --> 00:02:26.919 in white and turn the air opalescent. My mind skipped 40 00:02:26.919 --> 00:02:31.000 a step snow. The forecast all week had boasted the opposite, 41 00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:34.479 a rare Vermont heat wave, sixty degrees in sun, enough 42 00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:37.240 to bring out the first daffodils. I fished my foam 43 00:02:37.280 --> 00:02:40.120 from my inner coat pocket, thumbed it on, sure enough 44 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:43.919 the cheerful blue icon, a cartoon sun reading sixty four 45 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:47.080 degrees f mostly sunny, with a low of only forty two, 46 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:52.319 no mention of snow, no advisories, no sudden storms. I 47 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:56.000 looked back out. The flakes still drifted even as I stared. 48 00:02:56.199 --> 00:02:59.560 A pair of gray juncos hopped under bare hydranger, scattering 49 00:02:59.599 --> 00:03:02.520 powder with their wings. I stood up straight, trying to 50 00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:06.240 think rationally old glass, perhaps some film on the pane. 51 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:10.039 I reached up, tapped gently, solid, cold and clear. I 52 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:12.800 stepped away, paced the room, then, in a moment's whimsy, 53 00:03:12.919 --> 00:03:16.400 strode out into the hallway. The air was distinctly warm, 54 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.479 carrying a hint of lilac from some air freshener, or 55 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:23.599 perhaps just the memory of spring. After a moment's consideration, 56 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.319 I returned to my room and braced myself for a 57 00:03:26.360 --> 00:03:30.719 colder reality. But inside that hush had faded. The room 58 00:03:30.879 --> 00:03:35.599 was no colder. Only the window seen the same snow undisturbed, 59 00:03:35.800 --> 00:03:39.800 gently falling as dusk pressed through the trees, a trick 60 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:42.800 of the light. I told myself it must be too 61 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:46.080 many hours in airports, too little sleep, Or perhaps I'd 62 00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:50.960 grown so addicted to the ordinary pleasant strangeness of hotels, strangers, smells, 63 00:03:51.120 --> 00:03:55.240 weird pillows, all that anticipation, that my mind had decided 64 00:03:55.240 --> 00:03:59.759 to invent a little atmospheric drama of its own. I laughed, gently, 65 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.800 dropped my scarf on to the arm chair, and wondered 66 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:05.560 for a moment how often whether forecasters got it wrong 67 00:04:05.639 --> 00:04:10.319 up here? I told myself, I'd look again, really look later, 68 00:04:10.439 --> 00:04:13.479 when I was less traveladdled. For now. I poured myself 69 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:16.560 a glass of tap water, watched a last flake swirl 70 00:04:16.600 --> 00:04:20.680 against the glass, and sat down to write, March Room seventeen, 71 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:25.800 snow impossible. By breakfast the next morning, my mind had 72 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:29.639 reset itself to the gentle eccentricities of the hotel. I woke, 73 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:33.360 as always before sunrise. The habits of thirty years in 74 00:04:33.399 --> 00:04:35.879 a class room, refusing to retire with the rest of me. 75 00:04:36.600 --> 00:04:39.600 The room was darker than I expected. The window sill 76 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:42.759 rhymed with what looked like frost, but I ignored it 77 00:04:43.079 --> 00:04:46.319 for the moment in favor of my morning notebook ritual, 78 00:04:46.720 --> 00:04:51.600 three pages by hand before coffee. Old teacher's tricks die hard. 79 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:54.439 I still write in block caps, as if I might 80 00:04:54.519 --> 00:04:57.399 some day be called to explain my thinking to others. 81 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.519 This morning, my pages circled around how lazy and restless 82 00:05:01.560 --> 00:05:04.319 I had felt since moving, how strange it was to 83 00:05:04.360 --> 00:05:08.319 be somewhere. My face was a secret again from my door. 84 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:11.879 The hallway tilted slightly down its boards, so uneven I 85 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.879 had to step sideways in places at risk of stepping 86 00:05:14.879 --> 00:05:17.959 into a groove or sticky patch of wax. The old 87 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:21.639 hotel had that once grand, now cozy feeling that only 88 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:26.199 places with careful owners truly possess. The walls carried photographs 89 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:29.920 in tarnished brass frames, wedding groups from the twenties. A 90 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:33.199 dog perched atop snow banks, three women wading at the 91 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:38.600 lake shore. Someone missus Fallen presumably had arranged them not 92 00:05:38.680 --> 00:05:41.279 in neat rows, but in what seemed a map of 93 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:46.439 shifting personal memory. I followed the morning smells. Slow brewing 94 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:50.319 coffee cinnamon muffins would smoke from somewhere beyond, though it 95 00:05:50.399 --> 00:05:52.720 was too warm for the fire places to be in use. 96 00:05:53.399 --> 00:05:56.920 The lounge where breakfast was offered opened onto a semicircle 97 00:05:56.959 --> 00:06:01.560 of mismatched arm chairs and low tables, scattered with newspapers, notepads, 98 00:06:01.800 --> 00:06:05.800 and the odd pair of abandoned glasses. The crowd was earnest, 99 00:06:06.120 --> 00:06:10.079 half chatty, and half dream like. Missus Fallen presided from 100 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:12.680 a seat by the doorway, a paperback resting on her 101 00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:15.600 lap so confidently it threatened to be a prop. She 102 00:06:15.639 --> 00:06:18.160 looked over the assembled guests like a chest master at 103 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:20.959 the board. She greeted me with a nod as if 104 00:06:21.000 --> 00:06:23.959 I'd been attending these breakfasts for years, and with a whisper, 105 00:06:24.040 --> 00:06:27.399 handed me a menu that I soon realized was almost unnecessary. 106 00:06:28.040 --> 00:06:33.759 The options ran classic oatmeal with dried cherries, soft scrambled eggs, toast, 107 00:06:34.040 --> 00:06:39.639 a compot of overripe apples. The staff moved quietly, almost reverently, 108 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:43.000 as though to disturb the routine would violate the spell. 109 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:47.160 At a table near the window sat mister Canning bald 110 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:50.279 except for a price of heroic combed over hair, flipping 111 00:06:50.319 --> 00:06:53.519 through the New York Times crossword and muttering words under 112 00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:56.480 his breath. He wore two pens clipped to his shirt 113 00:06:56.519 --> 00:06:59.839 pocket and had, I later learned, been summering and some 114 00:07:00.040 --> 00:07:03.240 times wintering in the hotel for over a decade since 115 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:06.279 his wife's death. He offered me a half salute as 116 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:10.040 I passed on a faded rose couch. A woman with 117 00:07:10.120 --> 00:07:13.040 cropped hair and heavy glasses scribbled in a bound note 118 00:07:13.079 --> 00:07:16.319 book so intently she missed her tea cooling beside her. 119 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:20.680 This was Elina, already legendary among the group for her poetry, 120 00:07:20.920 --> 00:07:25.160 her staccato laugh, and an indifference to both routine and interruptions. 121 00:07:25.720 --> 00:07:28.279 I would learn later that she treated oddities much like 122 00:07:28.279 --> 00:07:32.040 the rest of us treat off handed weather, a curiosity perhaps, 123 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:36.360 but rarely a real disruption. Pete, the night manager, was 124 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:40.319 stacking juice glasses behind the counter, grinning that easy, eager 125 00:07:40.360 --> 00:07:42.800 grin that only people knew to their jobs seem able 126 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:46.279 to give. When I complimented the marmalade, he approached with 127 00:07:46.319 --> 00:07:50.560 a semi conspiratorial tone and asked, first time here. When 128 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:53.319 I nodded, he replied, you'll find it grows on you. 129 00:07:53.759 --> 00:07:56.720 All sorts of hidden corners, ask if you need local 130 00:07:56.759 --> 00:08:01.199 hikes or where to get real pie tell. Structure itself 131 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:06.040 encouraged these pockets of conversation. The lounge, the small library 132 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:10.639 with bay windows and ancient encyclopedias. The segmented hallways branching 133 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:14.839 in unexpected directions, staircases that seemed to arrive at slightly 134 00:08:14.879 --> 00:08:18.720 different heights depending on how tired you were. Some doors 135 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:22.160 were permanently closed. One bore a lock whose key Misses 136 00:08:22.199 --> 00:08:26.600 Fallen alone managed The building held both temporary and long 137 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:30.480 haul guests, with missus Fallen assigning rooms by arcane principle, 138 00:08:30.800 --> 00:08:34.000 or so it seemed. Everyone swore there was a system. 139 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:38.679 Each room had its peculiarities, slanting light, squealing pipes, the 140 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:42.399 odor of tobacco or mint or neither. The staff retained 141 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:46.480 that perfect balance between knowing and not knowing, present but discreet, 142 00:08:46.919 --> 00:08:51.879 aware but never intrusive. Discussion at breakfast. Beyond the crossword 143 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:55.759 which mister Canning solved loudly, looped and curled around the 144 00:08:55.759 --> 00:08:59.159 familiar interests of a retreat. Which authors were most likely 145 00:08:59.200 --> 00:09:01.960 to provoke, disagree agreement, which view made for the best 146 00:09:02.000 --> 00:09:06.679 reading which year the scones had reached transcendence. Several returned 147 00:09:06.720 --> 00:09:10.039 guests joked about how charming the building was, or how 148 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.799 the quirks kept you honest, but nothing more precise was offered. 149 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.320 When I made a passing remark about my room being 150 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:21.039 drafty or the view being painterly, Elena looked up and 151 00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.440 blinked owlishly, as if to say, is that the nature 152 00:09:24.440 --> 00:09:29.879 of old buildings? Mister Canning grunted non committally. After breakfast, 153 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:34.320 there were suggested activities readings in the library, slow walks 154 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:37.960 along a lakeside path where melting snow alternated with candy 155 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:41.480 bright crocuses, and this was my favorite time to sit 156 00:09:41.919 --> 00:09:45.519 pen in hand. Unhurried. As the day began to open, 157 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:48.840 I spent the first part of the afternoon skimming a 158 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:51.799 slim book of Vermont history in a patch of sun 159 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:55.360 on the window sill for an hour. The small crowd 160 00:09:55.360 --> 00:09:59.559 of literati drifted through the library, leafing through stacked volumes 161 00:09:59.799 --> 00:10:04.559 and exchanging polite theories about Chekhov and thorough In this 162 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:08.480 first day, nothing about the hotel felt especially odd. Apart 163 00:10:08.480 --> 00:10:12.679 from its practiced eccentricity. The delightfully cluttered reading nooks, the 164 00:10:12.679 --> 00:10:16.120 Betty lamp still glowing in the stairwell, the overstuffed mail 165 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:20.240 cubby behind the front desk. I felt, if anything wrapped 166 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:24.039 in ritual repetition. Everyone seemed to know their orbit. But 167 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:27.799 that sense of repetition also allowed for looseness, things you 168 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:30.519 could notice if you kept your eyes open just a 169 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:34.320 bit wider than usual. That evening, just as the group 170 00:10:34.399 --> 00:10:38.679 discussion on regional storytelling was winding down, I returned to 171 00:10:38.759 --> 00:10:41.840 Room seventeen, intending to jot a few notes on what 172 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:45.360 I had overheard, something about the way Elena paused as 173 00:10:45.399 --> 00:10:49.240 Stanza had grabbed at my memory. My key stuck, as 174 00:10:49.240 --> 00:10:52.840 if reluctant to allow me privacy. But once inside, I 175 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:56.960 found the room had retained its gentle chill. The window 176 00:10:57.039 --> 00:11:00.840 again drew my attention, not because I was seeking strangeness, 177 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:04.039 but because the dusk seemed to deepen there faster than 178 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:08.279 in the hallway. I moved forward quietly, my notebook still 179 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:12.080 in hand. The garden below was shrouded in snow more 180 00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:15.480 than before, deeper. Curling in among the shrubs and dusting 181 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:19.919 the iron tables with bright powder, someone a shape indistinct 182 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:22.960 walked in the near distance, head bowed against what looked 183 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:26.480 like a windy squall. I watched the snow swirl higher, 184 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:29.799 the light changing to a blue, almost violet at the edges. 185 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:34.879 I frowned. Suddenly insistent, I snapped my notebook closed and 186 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:38.120 strode out into the hallway, the heavy door rattling faintly 187 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:41.720 behind me. The corridor was brisk, even a little warm, 188 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:46.679 now unmistakably tinged with spring air. Determined, I made my 189 00:11:46.720 --> 00:11:50.600 way downstairs, weaving past guests reading in the alcoves, and 190 00:11:50.679 --> 00:11:53.879 stepped through the antique double doors into the parking circle. 191 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.039 The outside was muddy, the sweet, sharp smell of new 192 00:11:58.080 --> 00:12:01.759 earth everywhere. The grass, tough and bruised by boots, ran 193 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:03.960 all the way to the lake, where a few slabs 194 00:12:03.960 --> 00:12:06.279 of ice hunched together on the shore. There was no 195 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:09.120 snow at all, and certainly no chill dense enough to 196 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:12.919 warrant a scarf. I paused, half laughing, half annoyed at myself. 197 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:15.840 I looked back up at the hotel's wings, trying to 198 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:19.159 compute angles. If I stood here, Room seventeen would be 199 00:12:19.200 --> 00:12:22.919 two floors up, third window from the left. What I 200 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:26.799 saw instead was my own reflection caught in the dusky glass, 201 00:12:27.279 --> 00:12:30.240 no sign of snow, only the yellow of lamp light 202 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.879 and the shadow of some one moving within. No trace 203 00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:38.039 of winter, no one walking in the garden. Dismissing it 204 00:12:38.080 --> 00:12:41.000 as some trick, perhaps a reflection burned in my brain, 205 00:12:41.320 --> 00:12:44.519 a childhood memory intruding on real sight, I turned to 206 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:47.960 retrace my steps inside. Pete greeted me from his spot 207 00:12:48.000 --> 00:12:50.879 at the front desk, where he was untangling a foam cord. 208 00:12:51.279 --> 00:12:54.600 He caught my expression and grinned weathers confounding out there 209 00:12:54.639 --> 00:12:57.840 to night. Huh. I hesitated, then mentioned lightly that I 210 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:00.399 had seen snow from my window, A lot of snow, 211 00:13:00.519 --> 00:13:04.240 not just a patch micro climates, Pete said, eyes twinkling. 212 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:09.279 Vermont's famous for it. Sometimes I think this hotel exists 213 00:13:09.320 --> 00:13:12.799 in its own little bubble. Could be the insulation. These 214 00:13:12.840 --> 00:13:16.639 old walls play games with the senses. He winked. But 215 00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.120 it was the wink of some one reciting a line 216 00:13:19.200 --> 00:13:23.159 learned from those before him. I decided, as I trailed 217 00:13:23.200 --> 00:13:25.960 back up stairs to pay more attention. The next day, 218 00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:30.799 I made a mental chart hallway temperature, window scene, physical 219 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:34.559 reality outside. The teacher in me was hungry for data 220 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:38.919 even of the unscientific, subjective kind. I wrote a note 221 00:13:38.919 --> 00:13:41.240 in my journal and propped it on the lamp, a 222 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:45.279 promise to myself to test things properly come morning. The 223 00:13:45.320 --> 00:13:48.440 second morning, I rose, made my bed, another habit of 224 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:51.559 the profession, and went straight to the window, notebook in hand. 225 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:54.440 This time, the scene outside held none of the gentle 226 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.360 winter of the day before. Instead, a thick, rolling fog 227 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:01.639 covered the lake, slick the guard in mirrored silver. The 228 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:05.159 glass itself felt cold, almost damp, as if the mist 229 00:14:05.200 --> 00:14:08.600 pressed directly against it. I pressed my ear to the pane, 230 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:12.519 expecting silence, but fancied I could hear the slap of tiny, 231 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:16.399 invisible waves on ice. I dressed quickly and made my 232 00:14:16.519 --> 00:14:19.240 rounds tea in the lounge, a quick chat with a 233 00:14:19.279 --> 00:14:22.080 returning guest about the merits of reading aloud, and a 234 00:14:22.159 --> 00:14:26.399 dash outside with a borrowed scarf. The air outdoors was clean, 235 00:14:26.679 --> 00:14:30.039 almost balmy, sunlight glancing through birch trees on the far 236 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:33.039 side of the hotel lot, no fog at all. The 237 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:36.240 sky was empty, clear, a few crows shouting from the 238 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.840 tree tops. I pulled out my phone again, another promise 239 00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:43.960 of a warm, sun bright day. The contradictions were holding 240 00:14:44.200 --> 00:14:48.600 and growing more insistent. I began to keep notes time, temperature, 241 00:14:48.759 --> 00:14:52.200 what each window in the hall showed. That afternoon, during 242 00:14:52.200 --> 00:14:55.360 the group reading session in the library, I excused myself 243 00:14:55.399 --> 00:15:00.879 and returned to Room seventeen. Thunder unmistakable rumbled through the windows, whirled, 244 00:15:01.120 --> 00:15:03.639 and the gray water of the garden pond trembled with 245 00:15:03.720 --> 00:15:07.919 spattering rain. In reality, beyond the glass of the main lounge, 246 00:15:08.159 --> 00:15:12.840 sunlight curled through budding maples. I began to test, tapping 247 00:15:12.840 --> 00:15:16.399 the glass, peering sideways, holding my hand flat for any 248 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:20.120 sign of projection or layering. I checked the frame for seams. 249 00:15:20.679 --> 00:15:24.440 The window opened no more reluctantly than expected. When I 250 00:15:24.519 --> 00:15:27.919 cracked it, a cold draft swept in, sharper than what 251 00:15:27.960 --> 00:15:30.600 I had felt anywhere else in the building, carrying the 252 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:35.200 electric tang of a coming storm. I leaned out altogether, 253 00:15:35.279 --> 00:15:38.200 too far for comfort, and saw only the hotel's white 254 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:41.559 painted wall, its metal drain pipe cold against my palm. 255 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:44.759 The real garden staggered below in its muddy, marched thor. 256 00:15:45.320 --> 00:15:47.320 When I tried to bring some one up peat who 257 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:51.279 was switching over laundry between floors, he peered around agreeably, 258 00:15:51.320 --> 00:15:55.960 shrugged and said some rooms keep a chill old pipes, maybe, 259 00:15:56.279 --> 00:16:00.120 but his voice had the ring of practiced uncertainty. I 260 00:16:00.159 --> 00:16:03.960 started to record the distinctions more obsessively, listing each detail 261 00:16:04.440 --> 00:16:08.559 inside Room seventeen, thickening fog at seven zero zero, a 262 00:16:08.759 --> 00:16:11.519 m a woman in a navy coat walking the garden 263 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.080 path at nine fifteen, but on checking no one was out. 264 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:18.440 Then missus fallen herself at the front desk, Mister Canning 265 00:16:18.519 --> 00:16:21.440 zooming through a crossword. In the lounge. I plotted what 266 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:23.440 little I could see from the window with what was 267 00:16:23.600 --> 00:16:27.039 real outside, by walking the halls and reading the guest 268 00:16:27.080 --> 00:16:30.919 logs left near the entrance. In the evenings, the snow 269 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:35.519 would return, an unhurried, soft, piling snow. But from Elena's room, 270 00:16:35.720 --> 00:16:38.480 Room three, on the other wing, there was nothing but 271 00:16:38.559 --> 00:16:41.320 the honest warmth of a spring night and the last 272 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:45.840 light on young grass. I asked Elena about it, describing 273 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:49.080 as casually as I could the weather patterns from my room. 274 00:16:49.679 --> 00:16:53.000 She shrugged, gazed, sliding away, as though my question was 275 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:56.919 an intrusion on a decade of indifference. That's just old glass. 276 00:16:57.000 --> 00:17:00.559 Han filters everything at a poet's eye, and you'll see 277 00:17:00.600 --> 00:17:03.960 all kinds of storms that aren't there. Her answer was 278 00:17:04.079 --> 00:17:07.599 edged with humor, but not quite dismissive. She seemed content 279 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:11.480 to let the room tell its own story. Curious, I 280 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.559 tested physical explanations, the possibility of some clever light trick, 281 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:18.960 may be a layered window or old filter. None of 282 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:21.759 it held up to scrutiny. When I ran my finger 283 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:25.079 along the ledge, I found only dust, and the cold 284 00:17:25.200 --> 00:17:28.759 was deafinite, but ordinary in its own right. I half 285 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:32.079 expected to discover a screen projecting an old film, but 286 00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:35.799 there was only the solidity of wood and pain. I 287 00:17:35.880 --> 00:17:40.880 kept noticing people outside, sometimes bundled, sometimes not, forming odd 288 00:17:40.920 --> 00:17:44.799 little contradictions. One night, unable to sleep, I caught sight 289 00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:47.319 of a woman in an old fashioned hat walking quickly 290 00:17:47.359 --> 00:17:50.680 through the snowy path, lamp in hand. The hour was 291 00:17:50.759 --> 00:17:53.720 close to midnight. The next morning, when I mentioned it 292 00:17:53.759 --> 00:17:56.559 to Pete as I passed the front desk, he insisted, 293 00:17:56.920 --> 00:17:59.559 without looking up from the keys, that no guest had 294 00:17:59.640 --> 00:18:02.559 left the building after eleven, and in any case, there'd 295 00:18:02.559 --> 00:18:06.559 be no snow since February. At breakfast, I tried again, 296 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:09.960 posing the oddities differently. I asked Elena if she'd ever 297 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:12.960 noticed her view changing in odd ways. She peered at 298 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:16.240 me with curiosity than a shrug. Every day looks different 299 00:18:16.279 --> 00:18:19.799 if you stare long enough. Mister Cannon grumbled whether obeys 300 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:23.160 its own rules up here and returned to his puzzle. Pete, 301 00:18:23.200 --> 00:18:26.319 perhaps more receptive, offered a grin and said, you should 302 00:18:26.319 --> 00:18:29.440 hear about the draft ghosts. Nobody's fixed that, since the 303 00:18:29.480 --> 00:18:33.880 eighties place is famous for weird chills, makes a good 304 00:18:33.960 --> 00:18:38.400 story anyway. Missus Fallen changed the subject with effortless speed, 305 00:18:38.839 --> 00:18:41.960 steering the conversation to a debate on whether the best 306 00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:45.079 local writers came from the south or the northeast of 307 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:49.160 the state. Not all the offhand comments felt so pointed. 308 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:52.480 One morning, lingering by the tea cart near the lounge, 309 00:18:52.599 --> 00:18:56.319 I overheard two guests chatting. One a middle aged man 310 00:18:56.319 --> 00:18:59.640 with an accent I couldn't place. Joked, my room's always 311 00:18:59.640 --> 00:19:03.839 stuff in July, even in January. Guess the HVACX haunted. 312 00:19:04.440 --> 00:19:08.559 His companions snorted. I nearly joined the conversation, but thought 313 00:19:08.640 --> 00:19:11.920 better of it. Instead, I kept my eye on the 314 00:19:11.960 --> 00:19:15.359 line up at the breakfast buffet, looking for pattens who 315 00:19:15.400 --> 00:19:18.480 sat near the windows, who didn't, who commented on the 316 00:19:18.599 --> 00:19:22.480 view and who ignored it altogether. No one seemed to 317 00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:25.839 share my exact trouble, but the puzzle's outline was forming. 318 00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:29.759 I started, out of both boredom and obsession to wander 319 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:33.119 different halls, eyes darting to each window that faced the 320 00:19:33.160 --> 00:19:36.559 gardens or the lake. Some rooms I could see had 321 00:19:36.599 --> 00:19:40.640 people moving in them, shapes passing at strange hours, curtains 322 00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:44.599 twitching open before dawn, guests staring absently at weather that 323 00:19:44.759 --> 00:19:49.039 may or may not have existed during a slow Tuesday afternoon. 324 00:19:49.079 --> 00:19:53.240 Mister Canning, ever, the crossword devotee, ever reluctant to indulge 325 00:19:53.279 --> 00:19:57.079 in small talk, became my accidental ally. We sat across 326 00:19:57.079 --> 00:19:59.519 from each other in the lounge, sharing space, but not 327 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:02.640 conversation until I noticed he was struggling with a clue 328 00:20:02.920 --> 00:20:07.160 atmospheric phenomenon four letters starts with D. Out of habit, 329 00:20:07.240 --> 00:20:10.680 I muttered dew. He grinned, a burst of delight surfacing 330 00:20:10.720 --> 00:20:13.559 and said, you're a teacher by training. I take it. 331 00:20:14.599 --> 00:20:17.799 We fell into conversation, swapping tips and stories of the 332 00:20:17.799 --> 00:20:21.640 city versus the country. As our talk wound through crossword 333 00:20:21.640 --> 00:20:26.079 puzzles and bad puns, I found myself mentioning almost by accident, 334 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.079 the strangeness in Room seventeen, the snow that never matched 335 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:35.119 the outside, the odd thunder storms at noon. I expected dismissal, 336 00:20:35.440 --> 00:20:39.799 a wise crack about retirement and boredom. He surprised me. 337 00:20:40.160 --> 00:20:43.960 He leaned, in voice dropping Room five. I haven't seen 338 00:20:44.079 --> 00:20:47.160 rain from my window in what five years now, even 339 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:50.720 when there's thunder over the lake, just blue sky every time. 340 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:54.839 Figured the tree line shielded my view. But he trailed off, 341 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:58.880 then laughed uncomfortably, as if it were somehow embarrassing to admit. 342 00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:02.519 I seized on it. You've never seen rain at all, 343 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:07.200 not a single drop, he replied, almost with pride. Once 344 00:21:07.400 --> 00:21:11.279 during that big nor'easter last November, there was a rainbow outside, 345 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:14.759 and I opened the curtains and nothing, just cloudless sky. 346 00:21:15.240 --> 00:21:18.920 I chalked it up to bad luck. My mind raced 347 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:21.880 with the implications. Have you ever checked with some one 348 00:21:21.880 --> 00:21:26.160 else another room? He shook his head. Didn't seem worth it. 349 00:21:26.240 --> 00:21:29.079 Figured the old place had quirks, and who wants to 350 00:21:29.119 --> 00:21:33.440 swap rooms for an experiment? He added arch Buoyed by 351 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:35.799 the new lead, I cornered a few more guests over 352 00:21:35.839 --> 00:21:40.279 the next day. Most responded with variations on skepticism. There's 353 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:43.680 nothing odd about Room nine, insisted a science fiction writer 354 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:47.759 from Maine. But a visiting historian, a bluff cheerful woman 355 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:52.799 in patterned scarves, mentioned her Room number eleven always seems dim, 356 00:21:52.960 --> 00:21:56.400 even when the sun's blinding outside, like looking through a 357 00:21:56.519 --> 00:22:00.480 lamp shade. She'd assumed it was the buildings or orientation, 358 00:22:01.000 --> 00:22:03.279 but when I checked the maps by the front desk, 359 00:22:03.680 --> 00:22:08.119 her window should have caught the full afternoon sun. Fueled 360 00:22:08.119 --> 00:22:10.920 by this, I proposed a test after the reading session, 361 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:14.839 a whirlwind tour through a selection of rooms, comparing each 362 00:22:14.920 --> 00:22:19.559 window's view with external reality. Pete found the idea hilarious. 363 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.160 This is the closest we get to a field trip. 364 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:26.079 Should I hand out clipboards? But he agreed to help coordinate, 365 00:22:27.119 --> 00:22:30.759 with a handful of guests in tow Elina, mister Canning, 366 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:34.559 the historian, and a poet named Sandeep, who delighted in 367 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:38.640 anything absurd. We parceled out keys and dashed from room 368 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:42.920 to room, calling out weather conditions as we went. Room 369 00:22:43.000 --> 00:22:47.279 five's window sky so blew. It seemed painted despite dusk outside. 370 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:51.440 Room eleven dull almost sepia light. Room three matched the 371 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:56.000 exterior exactly a normal sun warmed world. My room seventeen, 372 00:22:56.279 --> 00:23:00.920 distant fog branches rhymed with ice. Another guest room nine, 373 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:04.279 nothing but what was honest in the air, sharp clear spring. 374 00:23:05.319 --> 00:23:07.799 As we huddled in the hallway for a moment, comparing 375 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:11.319 notes and no small amount of laughter, I felt the 376 00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:15.240 first frieeson of something larger than myself. You ever wonder, 377 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:18.160 Pete said, if the place picks your weather for you, 378 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:22.720 maybe it gives you whatever you want or whatever you deserve. 379 00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:27.559 Elena counted, straight faced. We returned to the lounge, giddy 380 00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:32.240 and unsettled in equal measure. Missus Fallen appeared, arms folded, 381 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:35.839 as if she'd anticipated commotion and tolerated it with grace. 382 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:39.079 When I asked, as directly as I dared, if she 383 00:23:39.160 --> 00:23:42.680 knew which rooms had unusual windows, she offered only a 384 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:46.960 maddening smile. Every building has its charms, mister Riley, Some 385 00:23:47.119 --> 00:23:50.680 you learned to live with the phenomenon, I realized was 386 00:23:50.720 --> 00:23:55.079 neither isolated nor random. Some guests, accidentally or by tradition, 387 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:58.799 had lived for years with these inconsistent realities and made 388 00:23:58.799 --> 00:24:01.440 peace with them, or simple learned not to discuss them. 389 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:05.599 Even Pete, ever hospitable. Admitted staff always tell each other, 390 00:24:05.880 --> 00:24:09.279 don't get attached to one view. If it's beautiful, appreciated, 391 00:24:09.480 --> 00:24:13.200 if it's odd, you'll adjust. That's how it goes. But nobody, 392 00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:17.480 not even missus Fallen, laid claim to an explanation. I 393 00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:22.119 felt the ground shift beneath me. My curiosity, once circumscribed 394 00:24:22.119 --> 00:24:25.519 to the quirks of my room, now stretched wider, spanning 395 00:24:25.599 --> 00:24:29.119 hallways and histories. The rules of the place seemed both 396 00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:33.640 established and unspoken, a tone, a set of possibilities you 397 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:38.119 might brush past a hundred times before questioning why. It 398 00:24:38.200 --> 00:24:40.960 was in the late afternoon, after a lunch of sweet 399 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:43.720 bread and cheese in the garden that I stumbled onto 400 00:24:43.720 --> 00:24:46.839 a new path of inquiry. I'd been loitering in the 401 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:50.599