Excerpt: lame_book_draft_09.doc

First 500 words:

There had been a poster advertising a lecture on the Holy Roman Empire hanging in the foyer to the library where Lori Hodge worked for the past month. It was to be given by Dr. Bruce Artamonov, held at 455 Cedar Road, on the first of November, seven PM, free and open to the public. Lori, leaving work on Monday afternoon, glanced at the poster for the one hundred and thirtieth time, and realizing that the lecture was in three hours, decided he would go, for lack of anything better to do.
Lori knew where Cedar Road was, but did not know what building was 455. He suspected it was a church, as there were several churches on that road, and no other public buildings that he could think of. Although he was not a religious man, he liked churches. In the back of his mind he hoped number 455 was the First Reformed Church, an old, stone building whose architecture he had always admired but never been inside. Laurie road his primary form of transportation- his bicycle- home, showered and made a sandwich, then set off on foot for Cedar Road.
Number 455 Cedar Road was not the First Reformed Church, nor was it any church. It Laurie had meant to arrive a half hour early, but by the time he found the address, which was hidden from view from the street by a wall of pine trees, it was ten minutes to seven. Number 455 was a residence- the home of Dr. Artamonov himself.
After discovering this, Laurie walked a ways away from the house and stood against a tree. He was unsure whether to go up the stairs and knock on the door, to wait for someone else to show up, or to forget the lecture and walk home. He felt stupid standing there. It was a chilly night, darker than he was used to since daylight savings time had just ended. He shivered, looked up at a street lamp, and decided he would go home. He didn’t particularly care about the Holy Roman Empire, nor did he feel like knocking on the door of a stranger’s home. The poster could just as well have been a prank of some kind. Perhaps someone was watching him laughing.
Before he Laurie had a chance to walk away, he saw another man walking along the sidewalk. The man turned, and instead of continuing on past Laurie, he walked up the driveway to house number 455 and knocked on the door. After a moment the door opened, and the man entered. Laurie saw a shadow ushering the man inside. The door closed.
Laurie, though a mild mannered man, usually had no qualms about placing himself in unusual or potentially dangerous situations. He was always conservative in his evaluations of risk, erring on the side of caution, assessing all angles when thinking of what could happen in any situation. However he was willing to take those risks. As he began walking