Free The Future Door by Jason Lethcoe

obviously the possessor of a fine mind. I do believe that in Miss Pepper, we finally have a neighbor worth having!” and “We should ask Mrs. Hudson about the possibility of gathering the tenants of Baker Street for dinner, especially Miss Pepper. It would be the neighborly thing to do.”
    â€œMiss Pepper . . . Miss Pepper . . . Miss Pepper.”
    The two had barely met and his uncle was completely smitten! Rupert was acting so incredibly different from the sourpuss his nephew had come to know that the boy was at a total loss for what to say in response to his ceaseless chatter.
    When they finally found Toby, the dog was so relieved to see his familiar masters that he nearly broke the bars of his cage in his eagerness to get out. The best nose in London had not fared well surrounded by stinking fish, and the poor pooch howled piteously as Rupert fumbled with his key ring in an effort to get to the one that opened the padlock. When the door finally swung open, Griffin was knocked completely off his feet and was smothered with more wet doggy kisses than he could successfully fend off.
    After rescuing Toby, it took Griffin and Rupert quite some time to flag down a cab, for it was nearly nine o’clock by the time they’d gotten the dog back. And as fate would have it, that cab turned out to be much slower and less reliable than the one that had gotten them to Baker Street earlier that day.
    Griffin was starving, and the ride was long. But Rupert was even more agitated than Griffin was, often yelling at the cabbie to hurry and pounding on the ceiling of the cab to make his point. Evidently, for Rupert, the thought of returning and finding that Miss Pepper had given up waiting for their return was too much for him to bear.
    They finally arrived back at Baker Street at a quarter past ten, and Griffin felt certain that the wonderful tea that Miss Pepper had arranged earlier would be gone. As he and his uncle sadly marched up the stairs to the darkened apartment, he was reminded by an unpleasant rumbling in his stomach that he hadn’t eaten in several hours.
    And those scones had looked delicious , he thought miserably.
    As the door to the apartment swung open, Watts made his usual greeting, the brass man’s electric eyes glowing in the darkness and his mechanical voice stating its usual, “Welcome home.” After his uncle lit the gas lamps, Griffin was surprised to find a note from Charlotte attached to a basket left on the kitchen table.
    Waited as long as I could but assumed that you ran into some trouble. I added a jar of pickles and some cold beef to go with the scones. I’m terribly sorry that I am unable to join you. Perhaps we could have tea another time in the near future?
    â€”C.P.
    At first Rupert was crestfallen. But then he whistled in appreciation when he pulled a jar of his favorite Branston pickles from Miss Pepper’s basket. Griffin’s mouth watered with renewed vigor at the promise of the delicious-looking meal. After all the delicacies were unpacked, Griffin noticed that the teapot that Charlotte Pepper had brought with her earlier wasn’t among the basket of goodies.
    Oh well , he thought. The tea is sure to be cold, anyway. We can have Watts brew us some more .
    He turned to his uncle and said, “It was certainly nice of Miss Pepper to leave this for us, wasn’t it?” Then, unable to resist the urge to tease his uncle more, he added, “That Miss Pepper is a deucedly fine woman, don’t you think?”
    At first Rupert smiled back at him with such warmth that Griffin hardly recognized him. But then, realizing that his nephew was teasing him, Rupert suddenly went redfaced and snorted with offended dignity.
    â€œYou really like her, don’t you?” Griffin asked, his eyes twinkling.
    â€œNonsense,” Rupert replied gruffly. Then, after preparing two plates of scones and roast beef, he added, “I’m just being neighborly,