The door to the lab has been left open. The night janitor isn't as careful as the day. My cage, however, remains securely locked, so there is still no escape. Well, perhaps... I look around my dark home. A little moonlight slips through the barred windows near the ceiling of this basement laboratory. The moonlight falls on the round clock, my favorite companion. So many days have I raced its hands around the dial, though never quite beating it to the top of the hour. Now my friend tells me it is 6:00. 6 AM, because there is moonlight instead of sun.

            "Nick," I call out to my neighbor in a sharp whisper, "Nick, you awake?" Nick is the only other human. The rest of the laboratory is full of dogs and monkeys and rats.

            "Yeah, what do you want? I'm busy."

            "Busy?"

            "Yeah, that's what I said."

            6 AM means there's still an hour before the scientists come to feed us breakfast. The rows of cages are so quiet, with the animals asleep. From time to time a dog kicks his leg, dreaming, or a rat squeaks, but mostly there is silence.

            "Nick, you still there? I had an idea."

            "What?" he sighs.

            "I noticed that the night janitor has left the door to the lab open."

            "Yeah, so?"

            "Well perhaps—they've left your cage unlocked as well. Mine is shut tight. Could you see if yours is open?"

            "Why would I want to do that?"

            "I figured if yours was open, you could go over to the desk there and get the spare set of keys. Then, you could open my cage with them."

            "Yeah, I suppose I could, but I don't see why. We'll get our exercise period this afternoon like always, right before dinner."

            "Yes, I know, but you see it's not exercise that I'm after. You see, I was thinking of—leaving."

            "What do you mean by that?"

            "I mean leaving, going out of the lab forever, out the big door."

            "Don't be a fool. It's cold outside. You've heard what they say."

            "No, I know. I just thought I might like to see it for myself."

            "Why don't you just ask the scientists to take you?"

            "I sort of hinted at it a few days ago. They looked at me like I was crazy and sedated me with the red stuff."

            "Oh, then it's probably best to just forget it."

            "Nick, I've noticed that they often leave your cage unlocked. So, if you could just undo mine—"

            "Why would my cage be left unlocked and not yours?"

            "I don't know, maybe they trust you more. Could you try it?"

            I hear his cage door click then slowly creak open.

            "You're right," he says, "strange."

            "Now, the keys, if you don't mind."

            "What'll I say if they ask me what happened?"

            "Tell them you were asleep all night and didn't see anything."

            He walks cautiously to the desk and gets the keys from the top right drawer. He stands in front of my cage. "Tell me again," he asks, "Why do you want to leave?"

            "I don't know. It just seems like the right thing. When I saw that the door was left open, it just popped into my head."

            "You'll miss breakfast."

            "I know."

            "Suit yourself. Hey, maybe I'll get your juice."

            "Huh?"

            "You get orange and I get grapefruit. I've always wanted to try your orange."

            "Oh."

            He unlocks my cage. There's only one key. All the cages have the same lock. I open the door and shake his hand. "Nick, I sure appreciate this." He watches as I walk over to the laboratory door. His expression is full of wonder. My heart pounds hard. Sure enough, the door is open, as I saw it was from my cage. I hesitate, thinking about how mad the scientists will be. I listen to them. They speak often about how much time and money they've invested in me and in this experiment. They're not likely to forgive this. Still, I may never get a better chance.

            I push the door open and go outside. There's a hall out here with a door labeled "exit" at one end. I open it and I'm outside outside. I'm in the place I could see through the window—the outside place, the world. I was brought to the lab as a child. And, after so many years and experiments, I don't really remember what it's like out here. It certainly is cold. My white lab pants and shirt are flimsy and offer little protection.

            I walk, and come to a street that has automobiles and people. I wonder if the people are just like me. Perhaps many of them have also escaped from laboratories. Or, I shudder, perhaps some of them are scientists or janitors on their way to other labs.

            A beautiful woman approaches. When she gets near, I wave hello and say, "Excuse me, miss, can you spare a minute?" She ignores me and brushes past. I suspect my clothes or manner of speech were too outlandish for her. I follow her and call out, "Wait, I'll try to speak more clearly."

            She turns, "Fuck off creep." Then, she hurries away.

            That's not how I imagined that would go, how strange.

            It's bright enough now that I should be able to see the full sun, only clouds have come and they cover the entire sky. More and more people, all in a hurry, fill up the street. I stand in front of a place labeled "café." Yes, breakfast, I missed it. I go inside. Another beautiful woman greets me at the door. She is much more pleasant than the other. The one from the street had angry long black hair. This woman's is soft and shoulder length and blonde. Her face warms and lifts my spirits. She seats me at a table and gives me a menu. She tells me her name is Amanda—Amanda, I think. I watch her depart. She wears a lovely yellow dress that falls just above her knees.

            My lab breakfast was always scrambled eggs and potatoes so I'm very excited to try these pancakes. I don't think I've ever had them before. I order, and soon Amanda brings me the pancakes. They are very good. I eat and watch the people in the café, all dressed in dark suits, clattering and chattering.

            Amanda brings me more coffee and juice from time to time and we exchange a few pleasant words. Gradually, there are less and less people in the café, until, I'm the only one seated. Amanda smiles at me, "Are you all set?"

            "Yes."

            "Can I bring you anything else?"

            "No, I'm full, until lunch."

            "I left you the check a little while ago."

            "Yes, yes, I remember."

            "If you could take care of that now, it'd be great. I'd like to get going soon. My shift's over already."

            "Would you like to sit and talk for a while? There are just so many things I'd like to ask you."

            "You want me to sit with you, here?"

            "Yes, very much. You seem like the nicest person, so polite. Would you?"

            "Well, okay, I guess."

            She sits down opposite me. She watches her fellow café people as they clean and move dishes around. One of them leaves the café. Amanda smiles and waves to her as she goes.

            "So, do you work in a hospital?" she asks me.

            "No."

            "Your clothes—"

            "Oh, these are from the lab."

            "Are you a scientist or something?"

            "No," I say, very surprised that she would think that. "Are my clothes not appropriate for the café?"

            "No, they're fine. Listen," she says, "I'm sure you're very nice, but I really do have to get going."

            "Where?"

            "Home."

            "You don't stay here in the café?"

            "No," she laughs as she gets up, "Though it does seem like it sometimes. It was nice meeting you." She smiles and leaves.

            I sit for some time. A man watches me from the kitchen. From behind the big counter, he gives me dirty looks. Still, I really like this café. The man, and another man dressed like him come to stand in front of my table.

            "Is there something else you want?" he asks.

            "No, but for lunch, I would really like some more of these pancakes."

            "You want more pancakes now?"

            "Well, whenever the lunch time is here."

            They look at me critically, as the scientists often do. "Maybe you could pay for your breakfast now, then come back later for lunch."

            "Do I have to? I'd rather just stay here."

            "You can't sit here all day."

            "Oh."

            "So?"

            "What?"

            "It's $6.95," he says after looking at my bill."

            "I'm afraid I don't have any money."

            The man's face gets very red and he takes a minute to compose himself. "Are you some nut?" he asks.

            "No, I just don't have any money."

            "Follow me please," he says. I get up. He puts his arm around my shoulder and leads me back through the kitchen. Well, he's certainly a nicer fellow than he looks. That'll teach me. We go out the kitchen door and are standing behind the café on a dead end alley filled with trash. He gives me a little push out the door. I turn to him, "I'm very sorry about the money."

            He hit me—Oww—he punched me right in the face. I'm lying on the ground. I touch my lip and find that it's bleeding. Both men stand over me. He kicked me right in the stomach. I'm struggling to breathe. I think I'm going to throw up. There's blood spilled all over my white shirt.

            "I better not see you in here again," he says. They go back into the kitchen and slam the door.

            I get to my feet, but can only walk hunched over, holding my stomach. I figure it's best to get away from here, so I go back out to the main street. It's so cloudy and cold. Everyone stares at me as I shuffle along. Their eyes are very suspicious and make me feel guilty of—something. I get sick of being watched so I go into another alleyway. I sit down next to the cans.

            My shirt is a mess with all the blood. I feel sleepy. I close my eyes. When I wake from my nap, I'm shivering. My hands, my knuckles and fingertips are all blue, and it's hard to move my fingers properly. I can tell from the light that it has gotten late, past suppertime I think. The sun has almost completely gone down—back there behind the clouds. The street is as busy as it was in the morning, but I figure it'll be warmer to walk, so I do. I cling my arms around me to try and be warm, but it doesn't help. Oh no, I've walked right back to the lab. I'm standing in front of it, right by the door I used, to make my escape this morning. I thought I was going the other way down the street. I was sure of it. Must have gotten turned around in my sleep.

            I sit on the bench. I don't care if anyone sees me. The scientists will have gone home by now, so there is no danger of being discovered by them. It's become quite dark, and is only getting colder. Maybe the door is open and I could slip inside, just to warm myself for a while. As long as the janitor doesn't see me, I could even wash up and get a new shirt from the laundry. Then, I could sneak back out. But what'll I do tomorrow. Where will I go. And, if the janitor does see me, he'll catch me for sure. He's even bigger and stronger than the men at the café.