The Book of Doors
by Gareth Brown
Contents
Matt’s All-American Burgers (2012)
Overview
Cassie uses the Book of Doors to take Drummond back to Myrtle Creek, Oregon, on August 22, 2012, choosing a day when her younger self is away to avoid being seen. Over breakfast, Cassie confronts the stakes of altering her own past, while Drummond offers Wagner’s theory that their actions cannot change history because they have already happened. The chapter ends with Cassie finally spotting her grandfather alive in the diner, setting up a pivotal, emotionally charged encounter.
Summary
Hours after learning the Book of Doors can open into the past, Cassie and Drummond leave the shadow-hidden Fox Library and step through a doorway into Matt’s All-American Burgers in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, more than a decade earlier. Cassie is shaken by the familiarity of the diner and the reality of returning to her own childhood town.
Seated in a booth, Cassie orients Drummond to where they are and watches 2012 news on the televisions, momentarily stunned by seeing events that are history to her but current to everyone else. Drummond complains about American food while Cassie struggles to focus on the purpose of the trip.
Cassie asks Drummond what might happen if she speaks to her grandfather and whether time can be changed. Drummond admits he does not know, but recounts a conversation from the library in which his physicist friend Wagner argued that time travel cannot alter history; instead, whatever they do has always been part of the timeline that leads to their present.
After ordering a light breakfast for Cassie and cake for Drummond, Cassie confirms the date as August 22, 2012. She explains she chose this day because she was out of town camping, reducing the risk of encountering her younger self, and she hints that something happened “just before” this period without elaborating.
As the diner fills with customers and Cassie briefly imagines her old life unbroken, Drummond presses her to explain how she got the Book of Doors and who gave it to her. Before Cassie can answer, her grandfather enters from the rain, alive and healthy, and sits in a corner table, leaving Cassie overwhelmed by seeing him again.
Who Appears
- CassieUses the Book of Doors to visit 2012, hoping to see her grandfather; fears changing history.
- Drummond FoxAccompanies Cassie into the past; discusses time-travel theory and presses about the book’s origin.
- Cassie’s grandfatherAppears alive in 2012, arriving at the diner and prompting Cassie’s emotional reaction.
- Server at Matt’sSeats Cassie and Drummond, takes their orders, and keeps interactions brief and practical.
- WagnerDrummond’s physicist friend mentioned as believing time travel cannot change history.