"Hobson."

"Detective Crumb."

"Should I even ask?"

"I don't know. Should you? You're always tell me you don't want to know..."

"Let me guess. You were walking by and saw a gas station being robbed, and instead of calling the police, like you should have, you went inside to help the attendant."

Gary hadn't actually thought of a story, so he just nodded.

"Unbelievable..." The older man shook his head. "So then what happened?"

"GARY!!" Chuck jumped out of a cab and pushed his way through the crowd, ignoring all comments about his wet suit and flippers. He ran towards the pumps where Gary and Crumb stood, but was stopped by a uniformed officer.

"Oh joy, he's here too..." Crumb gripped. "Palmer, let him through. I guess I want to speak to him too."

The officer let go. Chuck sprinted to his friend.

"GARY!" He ran up to Gary and hugged him tightly, garnering a surprised look from both Crumb and Gary. "I'm glad you're all right. After you tackled the gunman while he was pointing that gun at you..."

"You what!? You tackled an armed gunman! How stupid are you?" The Detective shook his head in disbelief.

"How did you know? You weren't with me."

"I was, in essence..."

Crumb held his head and let off a low moan. He felt a headache coming on. Not just any headache, a "Hobson" headache. He needed aspirin. The Detective headed back to his car to find some, leaving the other two to argue.

"What do ya mean in essence?"

"It's hard to explain. I'll tell you over a beer. After Crumb let's us go."

"Okay." Gary agreed hoping for some sort of explanation of his friend's behavior over the last couple of weeks.

"Crumb!!! Can we go now!!!"

"Hold your horses Fishburn," he hollered from his car. "What's your rush?"

"It's late and I'm cold standing here and you have the gunman in custody. Besides I'm sure you know where to find us if you need us..."

"All right, all right... The sooner the better."

"Thanks Crumb." Chuck yelled. He grabbed Gary by the arm and pulled him through the crowd.

"Um, Chuck... What's with the wet suit?"

"Nevermind that. Why aren't you dead? I mean you jumped for the gunman and he aimed the shotgun right at you..."

Gary didn't answer. It finally sunk in how close he came to dying. Fortunately he lucked out. When the gunman pulled the trigger all he heard was a click. The gun was empty. Gary then punched the guy, knocking him unconscious until the police arrived.

"I got lucky..." Gary said. "Come on let's go..."

---
"A half a floor?" Gary paced his hotel room.

"Why is that so hard to believe? You get tomorrow's newspaper," Chuck said from his seat on the couch. He'd taken off the wet suit and was wearing borrowed clothes. They were a little big, but way more comfortable than what he was wearing.

"But a half a floor..."

"Anyway, it leads to a portal to your mind."

"My mind. That ridicules..."

"It's true... The other day when I was Navy Pier, you bought the sea horse from models. You also tore up a wining lotto ticket that was worth 25 million dollars..."

"Yeah..."

"The next day you went to the suburbs to stop a car accident and stole someone's cell phone."

"How did you know that?"

"I was there, in your mind. That's what I've been doing for the last couple of weeks. Going from people's minds... You know Gar, some of the other recipient use the paper for profit. I think you should do the same..."

"Is that what this is about? Money? I told you. I'm not going to use the paper for profit. It doesn't work that way."

"I saw it myself. Come on I'll show you." He headed for the door. "Let's go."

Gary reluctantly grabbed his coat, but he followed Chuck out the door.

---
"Hi, Mr. Fishman. You're here awfully late on a Friday evening."

"Hi Ray. I just need to get something I left on my desk."

"Sure, but Gary has to stay here. He's not even supposed to set foot in the building. Pritchard's orders."

"Oh come on. It's after hours. Besides Pritchard's not here now. Come on, you know him," he pointed to Gary. "He won't do anything."

"All right, but don't take too long."

"We won't."

"Thanks Ray." Gary smiled.

"Come on." He pulled Gary by the arm towards the elevator.

They boarded. When it reached between the seventh and eighth floor, Chuck hit the emergency stop button. He pried the door open and turned to his friend "There!"

"There what?"

"It's not here..." He turned around and all he saw was a floor above and a floor below.

"What's not here?"

"The door... There was supposed to be one right here..."

"I'm telling you there was one right here. It lead to a half a floor and there were these doors, which are actually portals..."

"Chuck, I'm tired. It's been a long day. I'm going home. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Gary pushed the close doors button and pushed the lobby button. Once at the bottom he exited the elevator.

"Gary wait..." It was too late. Gary was already through the revolving doors.

"He's not supposed to see it. Never is."

"Larry?" He turned back around. The janitor was standing behind him. "Where did the floor go."

"It's gone."

"I know that but where?"

"I don't know. I've been transferred in cleaning the fourth floor. The owner of the offices said something about moving his business. And something about a man named Hobson is not supposed to see it. You're not Hobson are you?"

"No... So it's gone..."

"I guess... Here..." Larry handed him the duffel bag he left.

"Thanks."

"Good night..."

---