The Room With Two Doors

Chapter 1: The Man Who Came to Sit

The function room at the Assembly Hall had two doors.

One was at the front, wide and beautiful, with brass handles polished by thousands of hands over the years. The other was at the back, small and plain, leading to the car park where the bins were kept.

Every bride entered through the front door.

Nobody ever cared about the back door.

Nobody except Walter Pryce.

Walter came every second Thursday at 10:30 in the morning. He always wore the same grey cardigan and smelled slightly of pipe tobacco and peppermint sweets. He never came to book a party or an event.

He only came to sit.

“Just having a look around, love,” he would say.

I always smiled and nodded because we had repeated the same conversation many times. It had become a familiar routine between us.

Walter would slowly walk across the room, touching the backs of the stacked chairs as he passed. Then he would sit near the window that looked toward the car park.