In a world of fewer keys, the Old Man had many. He wore them on his belt, hanging from an S-bracket made by a person in prison. The Old Man needed different keys throughout his work shift. The keys opened every door on campus. Not just the doors that people knew, but those that they did not. In his youth, the Old Man noticed that old guys enjoyed carrying keys in such a manner, along with oversized wallets that stuck halfway out of their back pants pockets and as many ink pens as would fit in their shirt pocket inside the plastic pocket protector. Never without an ink pen, never without a key. Well-groomed men wore Brylcreem or Vitalis in their hair, every hair in place for the day no matter how long.

The fascination with liminal spaces was not new to the Old Man. He had been working in liminal spaces for a career. Quiet spaces with no people or particular usage. Forgotten spaces. Spaces that appeared to have been important areas of academic excellence a long time ago. There were keys on his belt to access these mysterious spaces.

‘Greetings, my friend,’ the Professor said. ‘I don’t often see others on this side of the wall,’ the Professor noted with a wry smile. ‘I have been reading, and the time has gotten away from me,’ the Professor continued. ‘My wife was here with our kids, but she has been gone a while,’ the Professor explained. ‘She was taking them Christmas shopping, and they had their chosen gifts circled in the Sears Wishbook,’ the Professor chuckled. ‘ They are excited about our landing on the Moon and want toys that reflect that national accomplishment,’ the Professor said with pride. ‘Yes, just last month was a day that will go down in history: July 21,1969 we won the space race, let the Soviet Union put that in their pipe and smoke it,’ the Professor lay down his book and did a little dance.

‘How long have you been down here?’ the Old Man asked. ‘The Moon Landing was 57 years ago. This is August 10, 2026, ‘ the Old Man said with a perplexed look. ‘Hello…Hello…where did you go?’ the Old Man called out to the empty chair and the book on the floor.