After rapping the iron door, Rose waited.

The hatch slid open with an uneven grinding of metal on metal revealing dark slanted eyes that searched the entire alley before coming to rest on Rose. A muffled voice grunted, “What do you bring?”

Rose stiffened. The words weren’t an attack but she felt them as one. Lifting her chin defiantly, she considered the question. What did she bring? She was invited. After looking for so long she had finally found them. That she was here at all should be good enough. She deserved to be let inside.

This must be some kind of test. Perhaps a riddle or some-such. Clever people always liked to see how others measured up to themselves, forever looking down their noses at the dull and the witless . Well she could be clever too. She thought of answers and discarded them almost as quickly. Newspaper. Bottle of Ressling. Umbrella. Bouquet of flowers. In the end she decided on her strength.

“I bring an open mind, a heart that has known laughter and pain, and ink-stained fingers.”