The next morning, we checked out of the hotel and took the train back down the mountains. As we got onto the train, Jack asked:
Actually the train did go a lot faster on the ride down. Me and Seussol spent some time at the back of the train watching the mountains disappear. I wasn’t certain, but I thought I could see the fire on top of Bartholomew’s Hat.
We all ate lunch in the dining car, and before we knew it, the ride was over. We walked back to our RV and started the long drive home. We were taking a different way home. As my dad put it …
We stopped in a town called Thidwick, New Mexico, and parked for the night. We ate dinner at a restaurant shaped like a boat.
The food was greasy and delicious. We ate tons of it. I even fed some to Seussol under the table.
We probably shouldn’t have eaten there. That night we all began to get horribly sick. It started with Libby.
The trip home was a blur. Everyone was ill. My father could barely drive, and the rest of us were sweating and throwing up. I know we drove the next day and parked somewhere, but I couldn’t tell you where. Plus, Seussol was a mess.
I couldn’t see straight, stand straight, or sleep straight.
When we finally arrived home, everyone stumbled out of the RV like characters from The Walking Dead.
I went straight to my room to lie down and maybe vomit. I closed my door and Seussol appeared. He looked worse than ever.
Seussol was so sick he was ready to go back into the closet.
Seussol reached into his pocket and pulled out the small metal object he had shown me in the hotel.
He explained that if I used the object on Beardy, it would let me know when the next time my closet was going to send a visitor.
Seussol took off his hat and dumped it on the floor. There were all kinds of objects. In fact, I think Seussol might have been the Temon Taker. I could see Wonk’s cane and one of the garden gnomes from Trevor’s front yard. Most surprising was when Jim flew out.
I opened my window, and Jim flew out, cursing Seussol. While I was turning around, I heard Beardy click open.
Seussol handed me ring number seven. I had been given some cool things by my past guests, but the ring was definitely my favorite.
And with that, Seussol was gone. The closet door closed and snapped. I tried to open it, but Beardy was locked tight. I took the weird object that Suessol had made in the fire. I pushed it up against the four corners of Beardy’s head and it clicked. Then I turned it slightly, and the front of the doorknob swung open like a pocket watch. There, behind it, was a date.
If this date meant what I thought it did, I had over a month before my next guest would arrive. I hoped I would feel better by then.