2024-12-14 “Always Been Empty” by Merritt (born 1960)

Emma, Hannah, Kent, and I got to St. Louis and found the address. We were standing on the 8th floor of the Merchants-Laclede Building at 408 Olive Street in St. Louis. The sidelight to the door revealed only an empty office hardly 10 feet wide.

“No doors…” Kent shook his head. “No furniture. No cabinets.”

“Nothing…” Emma replied. “Just floor and the window at the end of the room.”

Just then, a door behind us opened and a man came out. He seemed startled to see us standing in the hall.

“Excuse us…” I said moving back to give him room.

The man smiled and nodded at the empty office. “If you’re hoping to find somebody, you’re in the wrong place. I took over my pop’s law firm in 1989. He was here since 1955. Folks here before him say it’s looked like that since the building was new… that was 1886.”

Emma smiled. “Well, maybe we’re in the wrong place. I thought it was supposed to be a newer building.”

Then, the man patted his pockets and shook his head. “Forgot my keys…”

He opened the door he had come out of and said, “Good luck. Um… There's a Laclede Gas building… it’s not new, but the name is similar…”

“We’ll check that… Thanks,” Kent replied.

When the elevator doors closed, Hannah sighed. “We had to check… Empty… Just like the letter said.”

We all walked into the street and looked back at the office building of the Pay It Forward Society: 408 Olive Street suite 808.

I shook my head and said, “Well, back to the airport…”We’ve got four hours before our flight…”

Kent laughed. “Okay, for the record… tell me about the conversation again.”

I smiled. 

“Well… he answered.

I said, ‘Merritt Gray?’

‘Yes.’

‘Me too.’

He laughed a little. ‘I take it you shifted from 1984 to… well… now…’

‘Yeah… back in June…’

Then we pretty much set up meeting them on Sunday afternoon.”

Kent shook his head. “This bends my brain ten different ways.”

I agreed.