Thursdays with the Door Open

Premise

Every Thursday, the woman in apartment 4B left her door wide open from exactly 6 PM to exactly 9 PM. She never explained why. She never invited anyone in. She simply cooked dinner with the door open, read with the door open, sometimes sat on her couch staring at nothing in particular with the door open. The other residents of the building had gone through every stage of reaction — curiosity, concern, annoyance, theories, indifference, and finally, a strange kind of comfort. It became part of the rhythm of the building. You took out the trash, you checked your mail, you glanced into 4B. One Thursday in November, the door stayed closed. That was when everything changed.