Read The Walls of the Universe for Free Online

bills were identical to those in his own world. The coins bore other faces.
    He ate a late dinner at Eckart's cafe, listening to rockabilly music. None of it was familiar music, but it was music that was playable on the country stations at home. Even at ten in the evening, there was a sizeable crowd, drinking coffee and hard liquor. There was no beer to be had.
    It was a tame crowd for a Saturday night. He read the almanac and listened in to the conversations around him. Most of it was about cars, girls, and guys, just like in his universe.
    By midnight, the crowd had thinned. At half-past midnight, John walked into the square and stood behind the Civil War statue. He lifted his shirt and toggled the number back to 7533.
    He paused, checked his watch and saw it was a quarter till one. Close enough, he figured.
    He pressed the button.
    Nothing happened.
----
    He managed to get through church without falling asleep. Luckily the communion ritual was the same. If there was one thing that didn't change from one universe to the next, it was church.
    He expected the spaghetti lunch afterwards to be just as boring, but across the gymnasium, John saw Casey Nicholson sitting with her family. That was one person he knew where Johnny Farmboy stood with. She liked him, it was clear, but Johnny Farmboy had been too clean-cut to make a move. Not so for him. John excused himself and walked over to her.
    "Hi, Casey," he said.
    She blushed at him, perhaps because her parents were there.
    Her father said, "Oh, hello, John. How's the basketball team going to do this year?"
    John wanted to yell at him that he didn't give a rat's ass. But instead he smiled and said, "We'll go all the way if Casey is there to cheer for us."
    Casey looked away, her face flushed again. She was dressed in a white Sunday dress that covered her breasts, waist, and hips with enough material to hide the fact that she had any of those features. But he knew what was there. He'd seduced Casey Nicholson in a dozen universes at least.
    "I'm only cheering fall sports, John," she said softly. "I play field hockey in the spring."
    John looked at her mother and asked, "Can I walk with Casey around the church grounds, Mrs. Nicholson?"
    She smiled at him, glanced at her husband, and said, "I don't see why not."
    "That's a great idea," Mr. Nicholson said.
    Casey stood up quickly, and John had to race after her. She stopped after she had gotten out of sight of the gymnasium, hidden in the alcove where the rest rooms were. When John caught up to her, she said, "My parents are so embarrassing."
    "No shit," John said.
    Her eyes went wide at his cursing, then she smiled.
    "I'm glad you're finally talking to me," she said.
    John smiled and said, "Let's walk." He slipped his arm around her waist, and she didn't protest.
----
    There was no sensation of shifting, no pressure change. The electric car in the parking lot was still there. The device hadn't worked.
    He checked the number: 7533. His finger was on the right switch. He tried it again. Nothing.
    It had been twelve hours. Twelve hours and forty-five minutes. But maybe John Prime had been estimating. Maybe it took thirteen hours to recharge. He leaned against the base of the statue and slid to the ground.
    He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. John Prime had lied to him about what was in Universe 7534. Maybe he had lied about the recharge time. Maybe it took days or months to recharge the device. And when he got back, he'd find that John Prime was entrenched in his life.
    He sat there, trying the switch every fifteen minutes until three in the morning. He was cold, but finally he fell asleep on the grass, leaning against the Civil War Memorial.
    He awoke at dawn, the sun in his eyes as it streamed down Washington Avenue. He stood and jumped up and down to revive his body. His back ached, but the kinks receded after he did some stretches.
    At a donut shop off the square, he bought a glazed and an orange juice with the