He picked the book up out of the puddle, shaking the excess muck off the cover. He didn’t see who dropped it. Despite the wet alley and rude treatment, the outside of the book’s pages didn’t seem too damp. The book had a fake leather strap keeping it closed, and he slowly worked the knot over despite the filth on his fingers. It gradually released its grasp, and as he gently unraveled the strap he started to toss it into the puddle. Instead, he shoved the strap in his back pocket.
The cover creaked as the opened it. He glanced the around the alley as if whoever dropped it would bring vengeance for such noisy insolence. But there was no other sound. Nothing shifted or noticed him.
On the second page he saw the words, “this page intentionally left blank,” at least telling him this was a normal, published book. On the next page was a slightly different message, printed in a bolder font.
“This alley intentionally left blank.”
As the book fell into the puddle again, a man at the end of the alley heard the noise and made his way to the book.
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Copyright 2025 Russell Dickerson. All rights reserved.