Free Through the Medicine Cabinet by Dan Greenburg Page A

didn’t seem all that thrilled to see me, if you want to know the truth.
    â€œI’m sorry to bother you, Mrs. Taradash,” I said. “I was wondering whether I could get my retainer out of your bathroom.”
    â€œYour what, precious?” she said.
    She calls all kids “precious.” But you can tell she doesn’t think they are.
    â€œMy retainer,” I said.
    â€œWhat in the name of heaven is that, precious?”
    â€œA retainer is braces made out of wire and pink plastic, which sometimes falls down disposals or toilets,” I explained. “Mine fell into your apartment when your grandson opened the medicine cabinet door.”
    Mrs. Taradash looked at me like I was cuckoo.
    â€œI don’t have a grandson, precious,” she said.
    â€œYou don’t have a grandson? Then who opened the other side of my medicine cabinet just now?”
    The bottom half of her face smiled. But the top half was frowning. It looked like both halves were fighting with each other. She tried to close the door on my foot.
    â€œPlease don’t close the door, Mrs. Taradash,” I begged her. “I lost my retainer in your apartment. It’s the eighth one that’s gotten away from me. Maybe the ninth. If I don’t get it back, my dad will kill me. You wouldn’t want that on your conscience, would you?”
    She opened the door and looked at me.
    â€œWhat do you want?” she said. It was more hissing than talking. And she seemed to have forgotten the word “precious.”
    â€œJust my retainer,” I said, “which the boy who’s not your grandson will tell you fell into your bathroom from my medicine cabinet. Please just let me look for it.”
    â€œIf I let you look,” she said, “will you go away and let me get back to sleep?”
    â€œYes, ma’am,” I said.
    She sighed a deep sigh. Then she waved me into the apartment.

    I went in.
    Weird. Everywhere you looked, there were stuffed animals. And I don’t mean cuddly teddy bears, either. I mean real dead animals that were stuffed by a taxidermist. Squirrels, rabbits, beavers, chipmunks. They were all frozen in weird poses. And they stared at you through their beady glass eyes. They really gave me the creeps.
    I hurried into the bathroom and looked around. There was no retainer on the floor or anywhere else. I opened the medicine cabinet. I pushed against the back. It didn’t budge. So I closed the medicine cabinet door.
    â€œSatisfied?” she hissed.
    I had a sudden feeling that if I didn’t leave, her eyes would start glowing red. Then she’d grab me and try to stuff me. There I’d be, standing alongside the other animals in a weird frozen pose, staring at visitors through beady glass eyes.
    I apologized and hotfooted it back to my dad’s apartment. I didn’t have a clue what had happened. I began to think I’d dreamed the whole thing. But if I did, then where was my retainer?
    On the way back to my bedroom, I passed my bathroom. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw something.
    My medicine cabinet door.
    It was slowly creeping open.

Chapter 3
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    I raced into my bathroom. I -yanked open the door of the medicine cabinet all the way.
    There he was! The same boy I’d seen before.
    â€œHey!” I said.
    He didn’t slam the door this time. I think he was too stunned. He kept staring. I was staring too. He really did look a whole lot like me. Only his teeth were a lot more crooked.
    â€œWho are you?” I asked.
    â€œZeke,” he said.
    â€œI’m Zack.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œYou don’t live next door,” I said. “Do you?”
    He shook his head.
    â€œThen where do you live?”
    â€œSomeplace else. Someplace nearby, but kind of far away, too. Someplace you might think is weird.”
    â€œYou live in New Jersey?”
    He shook his head.
    â€œThen where?”
    â€œHave you