Jim Krank woke up and immediately realized that he was not where he had fallen asleep. Jim found himself in a small, hospital-style bed in a cubical, white room. The sheets were clean and neatly starched, and on the wall was a loudly ticking clock that read 9:34 AM. The odd thing was that Jim was certain he had gone to bed as usual at ten o'clock with his wife, Cheryl, after doing his evening exercises. Even stranger, Jim was wearing his daytime suit, though he distinctly remembered changing into his night clothes before falling asleep. His beige pants and blue dress shirt were wrinkled and disheveled from a night of sleep, and the thin strands of hair that stretched across his bald pate were oily and limp.

Jim sat up in the bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. He was completely confused and amazed that such a strange event had befallen him, but he was sure there was a logical explanation. Perhaps he had been drugged, and was now in a hospital. But then where was the medical equipment and other items that usually filled hospital rooms? The only furniture in the room other than the bed was a plain, wooden table. There weren't even any windows.

Suddenly the knob of the door turned, and a young woman walked in. She was wearing plain brown slacks and a white blouse.

"Hello. You're not Michael. Do I have the wrong room?"

Jim had no clue how to respond. "Hi, my name's Jim Krank. A strange thing seems to have occurred, I don't know how I got here. Could you tell me where I am?"

"Oh my, you're new here. That means Michael . . . ." She sat down on the edge of the bed. "I didn't know him very well, but Kimberly did, she'll be so upset. I was trying to set up a Bridge game for tonight, but Kim will be too upset to play once she gets the news. You don't by any chance play?"

"Yes, I do, but there are more pressing matters. I'm an important manager at Sysco Foods, and I'm very late. What is this place? How did I get here?"

"I don't know, nobody knows. We're here, and that's all there is to it. Make the best of it. The races begin at 10, you'll enjoy them. Well, it was nice meeting you but I must find some other people to play tonight. Good day." She got up to leave, but Jim was not satisfied with her answer.

"Wait! There must be some mistake, you're not making any sense. I need to get to work, can you point me to the nearest exit?"

"Exit? There are no exits. Look, let me give you some advice that will save you tons of time and trouble: stop trying to figure this place out and just accept it. All we know is that we're here. We don't know how we got here or why we're here or even if there is a point to this place. And there is no way out. I know it's a bit shocking, but you have little choice but to accept the way things are. If you agonize over the meaning of everything, you certainly won't be happy. Just accept it." She gave Jim a pat on the knee and walked out.

Jim sat bewildered. Had she been joking with him, or was she serious? How could a building have no exits? If things were really as she said they were, how could she be so complacent? Jim was scared to even imagine the emptiness of a life without a point. She's accepted a meaningless existence, and now she wants to play Bridge?

Jim decided that it was time for action. He figured that if he could find his way out of the building, there would be some sign on the outside wall to tell him what this place was. If not, he would call a cab and go to work, and then return later to investigate. Perhaps he would notify the police of the location. Jim strode out into the hallway and looked around. The walls were plastered with floral wallpaper, and the floor was covered by white linoleum. Large, perfectly synchronized clocks lined the walls at intervals of about twenty feet. Their loud, dry clicks were the only sound in the hallway. There were no windows and no doors marked as an exit. Jim stopped in the bathroom that was clearly marked with a "male" sign, and relieved himself. As he pulled up his zipper, a loud bell rang. Jim stepped back into the hallway which was now full of life. Doors were swinging open, and people were streaming into the hallway. They were all middle aged adults, men and woman, and together they formed the sort of crowd he would see walking to work on a weekday morning. Jim went with the flow, and followed the crowd down the long hallway. He saw a sharp looking man with a beard wearing a dark blue business suit, and decided to ask him where he was.

"Excuse me, sir, but what is this place? I don't really know how I got here, and no one will tell me what is going on."

"Ah, you're new here. No one knows, and eventually you learn to accept it and stop thinking about it. My name's Brad."

"Oh, nice to meet you, I'm Jim Krank. But, is there a way out? How long will I be here? I really can't believe that all these people simply woke up here, and no one cares to wonder why."

"Oh, people wonder, everyone has their theories. But, there's simply no way to know, so there's no reason to have a theory. There isn't a way out of here, there don't seem to be any doors that lead outside. I haven't been here very long, so I don't know the place as well as some of the others. But I can tell you that people seem to randomly come here, and just as randomly disappear. Some stay for a while, others only a few days, and no one knows where they go. Again, there are theories, but no one really knows. Good luck in the races." With that Brad picked up his pace and walked ahead. \


Jim was exasperated and confused, but had not given up on getting some answers. He decided to bide his time and observe this strange place. Eventually the crowded hallway spilled into a large room dotted with what looked like elaborate video games. Each unit had a chair attached to a video screen and a console with a steering wheel attached. In the front of the room was a huge screen with a long list of names and numbers next to them. Jim spied his name at the bottom of the screen. People walked purposefully up to machines and sat down, staring at the blank monitor. Jim decided to follow suit, and chose a chair towards the middle of the room.

"Excuse me, I'm afraid you have the wrong terminal. This one is assigned to me."

"Oh, pardon me, I didn't know they were assigned. Would you know if there is one assigned to me?"

"Ah, you're new. Pick any one in the back row."

As the flow of people from the hallway thinned to a trickle, the screens on all the machines activated. On the screen was a car racing game, much like the kind Jim had played at the arcades in his youth. One of the many cars at the starting position was flickering, and Jim assumed it was his. \


The triviality of the video game exasperated Jim. This was the race that Brad had been so excited about? He didn't have much time to think, though. Three loud bells rang in the room and the race began. Jim quickly learned the rules. When he hit a car from behind, it blew up without damage to Jim's car. If he had a side by side collision with another car, nothing seemed to happen. As Jim raced along, he saw others slump back in their seat as their screens went dead. He figured they had been eliminated. It did not take long before Jim was hit from behind and his screen turned blank. The game lasted thirty minutes, and then results were shown on the large screen. The winner was assigned the seat in the front left of the room, and the others were assigned seats in order, left to right, front to back. Jim found himself in the middle of the room, towards the right side. The race began again.

The races lasted until noon. They were fun and time seemed to pass quickly when he was in the middle of a heated race. He ended up in the front half of the room several times, but hadn't managed to get much further than that. Jim found the challenge of doing well somewhat exciting, but he was surprised and somewhat aghast at the intensity and enthusiasm of the other players.

At noon a bell of a different sound rang, and everyone shuffled through large, double doors into what looked like a cafeteria. There were long rows of wooden tables, and against the back wall was a table stacked with bread, cold cuts, lettuce and tomato, and condiments. In the corner were milk jugs and stacks of cups. This was not as good a meal as Jim was used to, as he usually met his wife for lunch at the Ground Round. However, Jim had missed breakfast and was very hungry. He made himself several sandwiches and poured a frothy cup of milk. The tables were filling up, and Jim felt an anxiety similar to his junior high cafeteria experiences. Where was he to sit? Summoning his courage, Jim sat down at a table packed with people; he figured he might be able to get some more details out of the other people.

Jim began munching on his sandwiches, and listened to the conversation.

"You know what I heard? Supposedly John Blount slept with Alice Parker last night, right after the races," said an older woman in a floral blouse as she sipped her milk.

"Not surprising, it's not like there's a hell of a lot to do around here. Heck, I wish I'd had sex last night, would've been a lot more fun than that boring Bridge game." said the man on Jim's right.

Jim decided it was his turn to speak. "Excuse me, sir, but I just got here today, and I'm very confused. Do you have any clue why we're here?"

"I do, in fact. The way I figure it, we're being punished for something we did back in the first world. God exiled us for our actions. But if you play by the rules, my friend, and act morally and try hard at the races, God will return you to the first world. That's where people go when they disappear. I'm biding my time and I've kept the faith, so I'm sure God will bring me back soon." \


"And how, sir, do you know that? " said the man across from Jim. "Let's look at this scientifically. Bells ring at specified times in the day, and the races are run at certain times. Meals are consistently served at regular intervals. This predictability implies that this world operates by certain scientifically observable rules. All that we truly know is what we can derive from these proven rules. Your theory seems to have come out of nowhere."

"Proven rules? I'm afraid you're both wrong," said a somewhat older, short woman. "Just because every day the same things happen does not mean that those things will happen tomorrow. What will happen to your precious science if tomorrow the noontime meal comes at one o'clock? There is always a first time. The fact is, we know absolutely nothing. We have been tossed into an absurd existence entirely devoid of reason. It is almost comical to watch you all try to make sense out of a situation that has none."

A short man on Jim's left spoke up. "Can we stop? Everyone in this place has had conversations like this hundreds of times, and frankly I'm sick of it. I don't want to hear any more. Fact is, we're here, enjoy it. Hell, if I weren't here, I would never have met Sandy." The man smiled at the young woman next to him, who smiled back. "I like it here; the races are fun. I almost made it to the front row today. The food's okay, and I'm in love with a beautiful woman. I hope they never take me away from here."

Jim felt a white panic start to slowly boil in his stomach. Until now he had not really believed all that he had heard. He had figured that a logical explanation would surface, and that he would be safely in his office by mid-afternoon. But now Jim started to realize the true horror of his situation. He was trapped indefinitely in a dry and empty existence. Even worse, he was doomed to constantly wonder why he had been put in this situation when there might not even be a reason. It could have been totally random.

Jim gripped the edge of the table hard until his knuckles turned white. How could these people accept this situation so easily? He watched as they laughed and exchanged inane batter between bites from their sandwiches. Finally Jim leapt up, shaking with fear and anger.

"What is wrong with you people! How can you accept such a pointless, inane existence?" There was a long, dead, silence as every person in the room stared in shock at Jim. A man at the end of Jim's table ended the silent moment with the response that everyone else had already told themselves many times before. \


"What choice do we have?"

Jim was not satisfied. He stood up from the table and purposefully strode back in to the races room and down the hallway. He threw open doors only to find small rooms like his own. He kicked and threw his shoulder at walls with all his might, only to find that he hadn't even made a scratch. Jim started to run down the hallway. It twisted and turned, often at ninety degree angles, until Jim lost complete sense of his direction. Door after door passed by without change. The clocks seemed to tick louder almost in mockery, but each opened door or kick at a wall revealed nothing new. There wasn't a single window to shatter or locked door to break down. Jim's legs were nearly melting in exhaustion, but as he turned another corner he saw a set of double doors at the end of the corridor. With a grunt of energy Jim ran down the hallway and burst through the doors only to find himself back in the cafeteria on the side opposite which he had left. The doors made a loud noise as they banged against the wall, and everyone stared silently at Jim. In horror he withdrew back into the hallway.

Exhausted and scared, Jim slumped against the wall. He ripped at the linoleum on the floor until his fingernails began to peel off, but the floor was impenetrable. Jim sat for a moment and thought; he thought hard about his predicament and its implications, and the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. Then, amid the sweat that coated his face a smile grew. He snickered at the utter absurdity of the situation, and out of the complete hopelessness that covered his mind like a thick blanket grew a sense of freedom stronger than any he had ever felt before. A lightness overtook him, and he laughed hard and strong as he realized that the existence he had taken so seriously was simply a joke, a chaotic turn of events. It mattered little whether he lived it out here in these rooms covered in floral wallpaper, or in the other, larger world draped by blue sky.