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Milk
Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Henry was out of milk. Well, not necessarily out of milk he had a carton full of it in his hand. But the moment he opened it he realized that it smelled horribly sour and was probably gone bad. 

"That is a terrible start for the day." he thought to himself looking at the bowl filled with dry milkless cereal. For a moment he hesitated about what to do. Eat it without the milk? That would not be the most tasty idea. Get some breakfast on the way to work? Possible but it would be a shame of the cereal and Henry was trying to save up some money at the moment. Quickly go out and buy some milk? Henry looked at the old grandfather clock he inherited from his, well, grandfather and saw he could make it, the grocery store was only two blocks away.

Not being one for dilly-dallying he'd decided to immediately buy some more milk. He walked down into his narrow hallway, put on his brown overcoat and left his tiny one bedroom apartment to go to the grocery store. 

With a brisk pace he turned right after leaving the apartment building only to realize that he was not in his usual street and he had no idea where he was or which way the grocery store was. Looking around he could only see sand. Well, sand and the apartment building he just left that stood there on top of a sand dune. 

Henry hurried back inside of his apartment building not quite sure of what to do, he had never been in this sort of situation. In a panic he rang the doorbell of Mrs Frost, the elderly woman who also lived on the third floor. 

"Excuse me for ringing your door this time in the morning but it seems we have a situation on our hands missus Frost." Henry loudly exclaimed as soon as he heard footsteps from within the apparent.

"I'm coming, take it easy mister Belwick. What is the hurry this morning?" Came from the other side of the door while the door was opening just fast enough to let Henry see missus Frost finish the sentence. She was a small old woman, well in her eighties, white curly hair and half rounded glasses decorated her head.

"Well, to be quite honest I don't really know how to explain this exactly but it seems that someone misplaced our apartment building?" 

"Misplaced our apartment building?"

"I'm afraid so. I was planning to go out and get some milk to eat my cereal before going to work but we are not on Gladstone Lane any more. As a matter of fact I'm not even sure we are on a street at the moment." 

"If you are going by the store can you pick me up some milk? I was just making tea but it seems my milk has gone bad." 

"No missus Frost, that's what I am trying to say, our building is-. Your milk has gone bad as well?" 

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"Yes it has, but where are my manners? Come in, I'll make you a cup of tea, don't have any milk though only sugar." Missus Frost said whilst moving to the side, gesturing to Henry to come inside.

Henry stepped into the apartment. Even though he always had quite a friendly relationship with his neighbour he rarely visited her apartment, he did speak to her quite often in the hallways of the apartment building but this must have been maybe the third time he went into the apartment of missus Frost. This was not for the lack of missus Frost trying, she would often invite Henry over for tea and the like, Henry in his turn was rather bad at accepting the invitation and rather good at making up excuses why he was unable to join missus Frost for a cup of tea.

The first time he went there was four years ago when he just moved in nextdoor, not knowing the sheer amount of stories missus Frost had to tell about her sisters, brother and children. 

The second time he went into the apartment was about a year ago when missus Frost came to his door complaining about something being wrong with her television. Henry tried to be a helpful neighbour but he was not all that versed in the matters of television repair. He rarely used his set himself. In the end the machine was beyond repair and from what he understood missus Frost and mister Heinrich, who lived at the top floor, went out and bought a new one.

Stepping in the apartment looked just as Henry remembered, the walls decorated with photos of people Henry never met, small glass sculptures and little stuffed animals filling all the unused space on shelves and a worn out red leather chair next to a couch that looked like it was never sat on. Everything just like four years ago, well except for the television set (which looked brand new and barely touched). 

"Please, have a seat mister Belwick, I'll go grab you a cup of tea." The old lady said, gesturing to the upholstered sofa. 

"No thank you, I'm quite alright." Henry quickly answered. He had to be careful not to get swept up in the pace of missus Frost or the next three hours would be spent on all the stories about her daughter in Lexington Nebraska, knowing this he still sat down on the couch though. "Did you happen to hear anything last night?" 

"Hear anything? Why? Did something happen?"

"Well yes the entire apartment building is standing in some type of desert. If it moved then that means someone surely must have heard it."

"You must be confused, my dear. Did you know my son, Benjamin, once went to the Sahara desert? He rode on a camel and saw the pyramids and everything. I believe I still have a picture book with his holiday photos somewhere." Missus Frost said. She started  looking around some bookshelves that were mostly filled with pictures. 

Henry knew for a fact that the book she was looking for was the second from the right, he knew this because during his first visit he already heard the story. 

"Missus Frost, please, can we stay with the matter at hand? Did you notice anything strange?" 

A loud thud came from upstairs.

"O look I found it. Ben's vacation to Egypt, It had almost been 15 years ago since he went." Missus Frost exclaimed, proudly holding the photo album up and slowly making her way toward the couch. "You know, sometimes I wonder if he ever went to Egypt again, he spoke quite fondly of it when he got back. Are you sure you don't want any tea?" 

Henry sighed. "Tea would be nice." 

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