spock The paper cup full of beer left Blondy's hand and hit the parking lot surface. Had he just seen Mikal disappear before his eyes? Yes, it was entirely possible...an old-fashioned door latch still hung in the air where he had been. Blondy stumbled a little as he approached the spot. Why not? So many strange things had already happened that day. He reached out to touch the latch...it was real. He turned it, and a sizeable chunk of the darkness turned on it's hinges to reveal a trail that lead down to a wide, shallow river running with riffles. Just across the river was a log building- part general store, part block house. A tepee was set up just downstream from it. A sign on the log building said Mudcat Spiegel's Trade Goods, Trapping Supplies and Tavern. As he stood dumbfounded, the door closed behind him. He glanced back and Mikal was half-way across the stream, mounted on a tired-looking sorrel horse and smiling back at him. "Come on,"Mikal shouted above the rush of the river, then turned and continued across.

"What the hell," smiled LEJ, and picked his way down the path toward the Trading Post.