His Cat Stole My Underwear, and He Kept Every Pair novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: No Railing
The railing came apart in eleven bolts, and Magnus put every one of them in its own bag.
"Why are they in bags?" Teddy asked.
"So that I know which bolt is which."
"They're all the same bolt."
"Not to the bolt," said Magnus, and wrote 4 on a strip of masking tape.
It was a bright cold Sunday, the day after the closing.
They knelt on the balcony in their coats with a drill, a wrench and a mug of cocoa.
The gate that had never latched came off first.
Then the waist-high iron rail that had run between them since 1924 lifted away in two long sections.
Teddy stood in the empty place where it had been.
The two balconies were one balcony.
It was a very large balcony.
There was a lot of it, and nobody on it was on the wrong side.
"Huh," said Teddy.
"Yes."
"It's bigger than I thought."
"It always was," said Magnus, looking at him.
Admiral walked through the gap where the gate had been and stopped in the middle with his tail up.
He seemed to realize that the world had no more rules.
He lay down in the exact center.
They spent the day hanging the lights back up, carrying chairs, and not finding bolt number seven.
"It's gone," said Magnus.
"It went over the edge."
"It was in a bag."
"The bag went over the edge."
"This is a disaster," Magnus said, and began to laugh.
It was a helpless laugh Teddy had never heard, with his whole chest in it.
That night, in the bedroom with the fern, he stopped laughing.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of His Cat Stole My Underwear, and He Kept Every Pair are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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