A Tad In Time

The room was huge. It had a ceiling that rose at least twenty feet, and walls that stretched away into the distance. There were shelves, tables, piles of books and many strange-looking machines spread haphazardly about the room, and a soft light seemed to come from all sides of the room, so there were no distinct shadows anywhere, only the beginnings of shadows.

"Take a seat," said Mr. Judkins. He cleared some books off several chairs and sat himself in a large armchair.

"You'll have to excuse the untidy nature of this place," he chuckled, "I'm a bachelor you see. If I had a wife. . . (he smiled at some private joke) but tell me, what exactly has been going on with you two?"

Tad explained, in detail, everything he knew, and the Professor listened carefully. Debbie kept looking about her while her brother spoke. She was scared. The room was too big. It couldn't fit in the top of the hotel. It seemed bigger than the hotel itself! How did a large room come to be in such a small building? She looked at the Professor several times, and he seemed to feel her curious gaze because he blinked and avoided looking back.

"Now that you have told me all this," he said, "I fear that I must also share some things with you! You are, no doubt, wondering how on Earth I can have this huge room in the top of a small building? (He glanced at Debbie as he said this) That is a puzzle I would rather leave for another time to explain," He smiled again as he said this, as if another private joke had just popped into his head.

"But what I can tell you is this. You two children haven't seen the last of these strange goings on. Quite the opposite. They have just begun. I must ask you to do something very special in the days ahead. Will you trust me?"

Tad and Debbie nodded.

"Will you let me know what happens as soon as possible? I mean strange things, things out of the ordinary. I need to know!"

The children nodded again.

"As you can see by this room, things are not always the way they appear, and I am sorry to tell you the same applies to me. But I am not interested in doing anyone any harm. I am, so to speak, a fugitive, but that is because I do not want to be part of what could be a great deal of trouble for a lot of people. . . so will you keep my secret?"