McGraw©Hill/Focus/The Forgotten Door p. 74////R7N7/ ***** It happened so quickly, so unexpectedly, that Little Jon's

cry was almost instantly cut short as the blackness closed over

him. No one knew the hole was there. It hadn't been there the

day before, and in the twilight no one had noticed it. At the moment it happened, the first shooting stars were

crossing the sky © they were beginning to stream across like

strings of jewels flung from another planet © and everyone was

watching them. The smaller children were exclaiming in delight,

while the older ones stood silent and enthralled. Here on the

hill, where the valley people often came to watch the glittering

night unfold, you could see the whole magic sweep around you, and

you felt close to everything in the heavens. Other people, you

knew, were standing on other hills on other worlds, watching even

as you watched. Little Jon, whose eyes were quicker than most, should have

seen the hole, but all his attention was on the stars. Small for

his age, he had moved away from the rest for a better view, and

as he stepped backward, there was suddenly nothing under his

feet. It was astonishing at that moment to find himself falling

swiftly into the hill at a spot where he had walked safely all

his life. But in the brief seconds before the blackness

swallowed him, he realized what must have happened: there had

been a cave©in over the old Door © the Door that led to another

place, the one that had been closed so long.