PodCastle

* Author : Lavie Tidhar
* Narrator : Eleanor R. Wood
* Host : Matt Dovey
* Audio Producer : Devin Martin
*
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Previously published by Uncanny


Rated PG
The Portal Keeper
By Lavie Tidhar
 
October 1st
 
The rabbit was back this morning. It stopped outside the portal like it always does and it checked its pocket watch like it always does. It doesn’t matter — the rabbit’s always late.
So far I’ve never found out what the rabbit is late for. It wore a jazzy waistcoat. It looked nervously from side to side and mumbled to itself. Then it hopped through the portal and was gone.
I trimmed the grass hedges and washed the flagstones and placed fresh seeds in the bird feeder. I’m a portal keeper. The portal just sits there, a circle of heavy etched metal the height of three men or one small giant. It shimmers like a mirror inside. I cleaned and wiped the metal, applying polish. The metal is etched with what could be ancient runes or could be manual instructions. I don’t know what it means. I’m just the keeper.


October 2nd
 
Two unicorns wandered past the meadow this morning and stopped in the courtyard. I greeted them formally and didn’t approach. They chewed on the grass for a while, and one pooped on the flagstones, but apologetically. Then they ambled into the portal.
I scooped the poop and washed the flagstones. I trimmed the grass and fed the birds. I made a cup of tea and sat in the last rays of the sun and let them warm my face. It is always warm inside the polder of the portal. Outside it is October, and frost lies on the field.
October is a busy month in the portal calendar.

October 3rd
 
A man with a knife came through this afternoon. His clothes were bloodied and the knife was very big and very sharp. He was not a bad-looking man but he had a mean look in his eyes and he was clearly in a hurry.
He left a tip, though. After he went through the portal I waited a while but no one came hot in pursuit. The coin he left was heavy, gold, and with the portrait of a woman on one side. I put it into the cash box.

October 4th
 
No one came at all today. I read a book and made my rounds. I polished the portal. The metal felt warm. I often wonder what it’s like to go through it. Sometimes I want to put my hand through the shimmering haze. What would I find? I know the destinations change.
I swept the courtyard and in the early evening watched a shower of meteorites high in the eastern skies, beyond the snow-capped mountains. I lit the night beacon. It shines bright, and I find it lifts the gloom that sometimes falls even in the polder. It lights the way for travellers who come to us. The portal never shuts.

October 5th
 
A woman came through the portal today. She stood in the courtyard and blinked, looking around her with curiosity. She wore a summer dress and glasses with black frames.
“Hello,” she said.
“Hello,” I said.
“You are the portal keeper?”
I said I was. She looked around some more.
“It’s nice,” she said. “Where am I?”
I did not know how to answer that question. The woman indicated my table.
“May I sit?”
“Please,” I said. “Would you like tea?”
“If you would be so kind,” she said.
She sat down and brought out a large book and an assortment of mechanical devices she proceeded to...