Under_The_Whispering_Door_by_TJ_Klune

“That wasn’t an offer.”
“Sounded like one. Don’t write checks your butt can’t cash is what I
always say.”
Wallace doubted that. He looked at the fire. He could feel the heat from it,
though he didn’t understand how that was possible. “How can you stand it?”
“What?” Nelson asked, settling back in his chair.
“Staying here.”
“It’s not a bad place,” Nelson said sharply. “It’s quite nice, if you ask me.
There are worse places I could be.”
“No, I’m—that’s not what I meant.”
“Then say what you mean. Seems easy enough, right?”
“And that’s another thing,” Wallace said without thinking. “You can
change your clothes.”
“It’s not that hard. You just need to have focus.”
Wallace shook his head. “Why are you the way you are?”
“Like … physically? Or philosophically? If it’s the latter, I hope you’re
ready for a long story. It all started when I was—”
“Physically,” Wallace said. “Why are you still old?”
Nelson cocked his head. “Because I am old. Eighty-seven, to be exact. Or,
rather, that’s how old I was when I bit the big one.”
“Why don’t you make yourself younger?” Wallace asked. “Are you—” we,
though that went unsaid—“stuck like this forever?”
He startled when Nelson laughed loudly. He looked up in time to see
Nelson wiping his eyes. “Oh, you are a delight. Getting right to the meat of it.
I thought that would take at least another week or two. Possibly seven.”
“Glad I can buck your expectations,” Wallace mumbled.
“It’s simple, really,” Nelson said, and Wallace tried to hide how eager he
was to hear the answer. “I like being old.”
That … wasn’t the answer he’d expected. “You do? Why?”
“Spoken like a young person.”
“I’m not that young.”
“I can see that,” Nelson said. “Worry lines around your eyes, but none
around your mouth. Didn’t laugh much, did you.”
It wasn’t a question. And even if it was, Wallace didn’t know how to
answer without sounding defensive. Instead, he lifted his hand to his face,
touching the skin near his eyes. He’d never been one to worry about such