Free Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer Page B

I thought about how a millimeter behind me was Manhattan and a millimeter in front of me was Queens. So what's the name of the parts of New York – exactly halfway through the Midtown Tunnel, exactly halfway over the Brooklyn Bridge, the exact middle of the Staten Island Ferry when it's exactly halfway between Manhattan and Staten Island – that aren't in any borough?
    I took a step forward, and it was my first time in Queens.
    I walked through Long Island City, Woodside, Elmhurst, and Jackson Heights. I shook my tambourine the whole time, because it helped me remember that even though I was going through different neighborhoods, I was still me. When I finally got to the building, I couldn't figure out where the doorman was. At first I thought maybe he was just getting some coffee, but I waited around for a few minutes and he didn't come. I looked through the door and saw that there was no desk for him. I thought, Weird .
    I tried my key in the lock, but it didn't go in past the tip. I saw a device with a button for each apartment, so I pressed the button for A. Black's apartment, which was 9E. No one answered. I pressed it again. Nothing. I held down the buzzer for fifteen seconds. Still nothing. I sat down on the ground and wondered if it would be overly wimpy to cry in the lobby of an apartment building in Corona.
    'All right, all right,' a voice said from the speaker. 'Take it easy.' I jumped up. 'Hello,' I said, 'my name is Oskar Schell.'
    'What do you want?' His voice sounded mad, but I hadn't done anything wrong. 'Did you know Thomas Schell?'
    'No.'
    'Are you sure?'
    'Yes.'
    'Do you know anything about a key?'
    'What do you want?'
    'I didn't do anything wrong.'
    'What do you want?'
    'I found a key,' I said, 'and it was in an envelope with your name on it.'
    'Aaron Black?'
    'No, just Black.'
    'It's a common name.'
    'I know.'
    'And a color.'
    'Obviously.'
    'Goodbye,' the voice said. 'But I'm just trying to find out about this key.'
    'Goodbye.'
    'But – '
    'Goodbye.' Disappointment #2.
    I sat back down and started to cry in the lobby of an apartment building in Corona. I wanted to press all of the buttons and scream curse words at everybody who lived in the stupid building. I wanted to give myself bruises. I stood up and pressed 9E again. This rime the voice came out immediately. 'What. Do. You. Want?' I said, 'Thomas Schell was my dad.'
    'And?'
    ' Was . Not is
    . He's dead.' He didn't say anything, but I knew he was pressing the Talk button because I could hear a beeping in his apartment, and also windows rattling from the same breeze that I was feeling at ground level. He asked, 'How old are you?' I said seven, because I wanted him to feel more sorry for me, so he would help me. Lie #34. 'My dad's dead,' I told him. 'Dead?'
    'He's inanimate.' He didn't say anything. I heard more beeping. We just stood there, facing each other, but nine floors apart. Finally he said, 'He must have died young.'
    'Yeah.'
    'How old was he?'
    'Forty.'
    'That's too young.'
    'That's true.'
    'Can I ask how he died?' I didn't want to talk about it, but I remembered the promises I made to myself about my search, so I told him everything. I heard more beeping and wondered if his finger was getting tired. He said, 'If you come up, I'll have a look at that key.'
    'I can't go up.'
    'Why not?'
    'Because you're on the ninth floor and I don't go that high.'
    'Why not?'
    'It isn't safe.'
    'But it's perfectly safe here.'
    'Until something happens.'
    'You'll be fine.'
    'It's a rule.'
    'I'd come down for you,' he said, 'but I just can't.'
    'Why not?'
    'I'm very sick.'
    'But my dad is dead.'
    'I'm hooked up to all sorts of machines. That's why it took me so long to get to the intercom.' If I could do it again, I would do it differently. But you can't do it again. I heard the voice saying, 'Hello? Hello? Please.' I slid my card under the apartment building door and got away from there as fast as I could.
    Abby Black lived in #I in a townhouse on Bedford