The following day, about an hour before they were all due to leave out for the airport to meet their refabricated itinerary, on a whim Hal took a deep breath and quickly entered his den. He flipped on the wall switch and half-expected the bulb in the light fixture above to burn out – perhaps shatter! – but it didn’t. So instead he utilized the light it shed to locate that horrible fairy tale book upon the floor where he had cast it away from himself the previous day. 

He paused for a couple of seconds reluctantly as a slight waft of French perfume lent him caution, but after reminding himself that he had indeed come this far he took another deep breath (not through his nose) and walked right up to the book. At this point w...

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