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Part Three · The Center: Dolores

«I want to stay with you a little longer».

Round wooden door in a white stone arch set with shells; open, it gives onto a beach with palm trees and dunes under a blue sky, and two people walking in the distance

Touch the door to open it.

The story

There is a photograph of us in Bimini, from two thousand twenty-five. My arm is around Dolores. We are having breakfast by the sea. There is coffee on the table.

Looking at it, I imagine a harbor at the end of the afternoon.

The full story is in the book.

A fragment

«And for an instant I did not know whether I was holding her, whether she was holding me, or whether someone was holding us both».

The white wake of a boat on a turquoise sea; to one side, a pale beach with a row of trees under a sky with clouds — Devil’s Backbone, from the boat passing Preacher’s Cave. Eleuthera, Bahamas Latitude: 25 degrees and 33.610 minutes north. Longitude: 76 degrees and 41.848 minutes west.Photograph by Coki Domínguez. See on the map (opens in OpenStreetMap)

A place in the story

«“What was the boldest crossing?”».«“One in the Bahamas. We went through Devil’s Backbone alone.”».

Beneath that clarity lay coral, rock, places the hull could not pass. From the helm, beauty was too close.

From the stern of a boat, beside its three outboard engines, turquoise water so clear the bottom is visible; two boards float nearby and, in the distance, low cays and a sandbar — Double Breasted Cay. Abaco, Bahamas Latitude: 27 degrees and 11.719 minutes north. Longitude: 78 degrees and 17.188 minutes west.See on the map (opens in OpenStreetMap)

Another place in the story

«“Once there was a shark.”».

They had left the boat in a place of clear water. Their daughter was with them. His wife climbed down and began to walk through the water, moving slowly away.

The author and Dolores, embracing, standing waist-deep in transparent water; behind them, the turquoise sea stretches to the horizon under a blue sky with high clouds — The two of us in the water, 2025. Bimini, Bahamas Latitude: 25 degrees and 33.108 minutes north. Longitude: 79 degrees and 16.298 minutes west.See on the map (opens in OpenStreetMap)

Where the story begins and ends

My arm is around Dolores. She calls me Antonio.

There is coffee on the table. Behind us is the sea.I want to stay with you a little longer.

The next door · XIII

Of the Silence That Makes the World

«From stillness are born the forms that bless».

Enter through Door XIII

Or stay

«You can read one door a week, or stay longer in the one that asks for it».

How to walk through the doors Back to the thirteen doors