Door in the Dragon\u2019s Throat, pp. 90-101<\/strong><\/p>\n To recap, the shaman of the desert, who does not appear to have any name outside of that, kidnapped Jay and Lila in order to talk to them. Why he didn\u2019t just meet with their father, I have no idea.<\/p>\n The shaman told Jay and Lila that he has a box passed down from father to son that contains a key to the door, and the behind the door is a great evil. He said that the box is cursed, and that his father and grandfather both died because they tried to open it. He begged Jay and Lila to tell him how to gain the protection of their god, so they converted him to Christianity. The shaman then gave them the box and asked them to destroy it.<\/p>\n \u201cHere, please, you are strong in your God. Take the Chest and destroy it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay,\u201d said Jay. \u201cBut first I\u2019m going to open it.\u201d<\/p>\n The old man\u2019s face paled with horror. \u201cNo! No! To open the Chest is to die!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur God is greater, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, He is greater, but \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry,\u201d said Lila. \u201cThe Chest is harmless now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll be careful,\u201d Jay assured him. \u201cBut it\u2019s time this mysterious little box was opened.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is a terrible, terrible idea. Attempting to open this box got the shaman\u2019s father and grandfather killed. The shaman has trauma surrounding this box. Why not wait to open it when he doesn\u2019t have to be present?<\/p>\n Why not\u2014here\u2019s an idea\u2014why not take the box to Dr. Cooper, and let him decide what to do with it? The whole section above read so weirdly to me. Sure, this is a book written for kids, and lots of books written for kids have kids that go off and do all sorts of unsafe things, away from their parents. That\u2019s how they have enough agency to make for a good story. So I get that. This bit reads weirdly\u00a0because there is<\/em> an adult present. He\u2019s just ignored and belittled and treated as though he\u2019s unworthy of their consideration as an equal. Sure, they convert him, but only after he asks them to, and they immediately go back to ignoring everything he says.<\/p>\n I am really, really uncomfortable with how this section reads, particularly because there is so much casual racism in this book that I can\u2019t read this section without feeling that that the shaman\u2019s race and ethnicity play a role in the shameless way the children are treating him. We certainly never see the children treating anyone who isn\u2019t<\/em> from Nepur this way. Unsurprisingly, the children\u2019s treatment of Gozan and the shaman is virtually identical.<\/p>\n There\u2019s one other thing to address here: the issue of curses. We aren\u2019t told specifically how the shaman\u2019s father and grandfather died, so it\u2019s possible we\u2019re to think their deaths were unrelated and only connected to the box through superstition. But here we get into another issue\u2014are curses real, in this universe? The children spend this whole time treating the shaman\u2019s fear of a curse as ridiculous, even as Peretti details what sure sounds like a curse unfolding. You\u2019ll see it in a moment. The weather changes, the animals start acting weird.<\/p>\n You could read this whole section in an arrogant westerners blundering into things they don\u2019t understand and disregarding the wisdom of their native guide<\/em> lens without changing a single word. The thing is, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s actually meant to be read that way<\/em>. Then why is it written that way?<\/p>\n Peretti is combining evangelical religion with the special effects and feel of an Indiana Jones movie. This is why, when they begin opening the box, the sun goes behind a cloud, the wind picks up, and animals start howling. It\u2019s because that is what would happen in an Indiana Jones movie. It\u2019s just that in that Indiana Jones movie,\u00a0this would happen because there was a curse,\u00a0<\/em>whereas here, there are no curses, because Jesus.<\/p>\n Jay stubbornly worked the sharp edge of the knife into the crack of the lid.<\/p>\n Just then the light in the room seemed to go dim.<\/p>\n Lila gasped. \u201cWhat happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRelax,\u201d said Jay. \u201cA cloud must have passed in front of the moon or something.\u201d<\/p>\n From the dark corner of the room came the voice of the cowering old man. \u201cJesus, You will protect us, yes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe will.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The hubris<\/em> of these children. The absolute hubris<\/em>. They think they can do anything, without consequences, because Jesus is some sort of magic genie protection spell.<\/p>\n Somewhere far-off along the Street of the Scorpion, a dog began to whale a long, mournful note.<\/p>\n Lila was getting edgy. \u201cJay, I think you\u2019d better hurry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to damage this chest,\u201d he answered as he kept working slowly and methodically.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Good on Jay, I guess?<\/p>\n The room filled with an old, musty smell, as if a tomb had just been opened. Fine, gray dust fell in little puffs from the lid as Jay set it down on the table. The Chest seems to be filled with it. Jay took a spoon and probed the gray surface. He found a piece of cloth, now totally decayed and crumbling, and moved it aside. It crumbled into powder. He carefully removed that powder and the fine little shreds that were left.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Jay! No! Stop!<\/p>\n Jay took the spoon and began to carefully scoop out the gray dust and the rotted shreds of cloth wrapping.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What?! Wait! Ugh!<\/p>\n None of these people are actual archaeologists.<\/em>\u00a0These are treasure hunters. That cloth should have been analyzed. Heck, even the dust should have been analyzed. It should have been opened in a lab, with careful, cautious precautions to make sure that nothing is lost. But no! Couldn\u2019t possibly wait for that!<\/p>\n Jay blew the dust away and wiped the object with an old rag. The more he wiped it, the shinier it got, until they could see that it was made of beautiful, glimmering, bronze like material.<\/p>\n Lila observed, \u201cIt\u2019s the same metal the Door is made of!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWill you look at that!\u201d said Jay, holding it up, turning it this way and that, trying to figure it out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m pretty sure even the coating on the key should have been tested, but noooo,<\/em> he has to see it shimmer,\u00a0<\/em>evidence be damned!<\/p>\n The metal object looked like some strange alien garden tool\u2014with a handle at one end, a long narrow shaft, and then a strange, clawlike cluster of fingers at the other end.<\/p>\n Jay thought he\u2019d figured it out. \u201cRemember the shape of the keyhole in the Door? You hold this end, and then this end here\u2014with all these fingers on it\u2014goes into that lock, and there you are!\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n They didn\u2019t see the keyhole until they\u2019d blasted the door hinges such that the blast cleaned the dust off of the whole door (that would not happen, explosions actually create dust). The keyhole is 40 feet off the ground. The key they\u2019re describing here is small enough that Jay was able to hold it up, \u201cturning it this way and that.\u201d It does not appear to be particularly heavy, or large. You might be able to see a keyhole only a few inches in size from the ground 40 feet below, but you probably wouldn\u2019t be able to make out its precise shape. You might not even be able to tell that it\u2019s a keyhole, beyond guessing based on placement.<\/p>\n Suddenly a cold wind caressed their necks, making the hair on their necks bristle. Outside more dogs were mourning and howling, their moans and cries filtering down through the narrow streets and alleys.<\/p>\n \u201cI am afraid,\u201d said the old man.<\/p>\n Jay didn\u2019t hear his comment; he was too interested in his theory about the key.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You see what I mean!\u00a0This reads like a story of western hubris ignoring the critically important knowledge held by the local native population, to their peril! But that\u2019s\u00a0not actually what it is.\u00a0<\/em>We\u2019re supposed to be on Jay and Lila\u2019s side, and see all the brown people as superstitious!\u00a0It\u2019s bizarre<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cSure, it makes sense. The ancient Chaldeans got tier mystery religion and beliefs from Babylon, from Nimrod. Obviously, when Nimrod passed down his religion to the Chaldeans, he also entrusted them with the key to his treasure. The keeping of the key became part of their religion.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Forget what the shaman has said about the door containing evil! Jay knows what\u2019s actually<\/em> going on, and that\u2019s that there\u2019s treasure!<\/em><\/p>\n The shaman doesn\u2019t buy it.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is more,\u201d said the old man, is eyes wide with fear as he looked around the room and out the windows. \u201cI can feel it. Evil is at work tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n The cold wind raced in through the window again and chilled them with icy fingers of air. The candle flickered.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You see what I mean! Peretti is describing the situation around them in a sinister way, with dark and sudden blasts of cold air and flickering lights, with the shaman again warning Jay of his danger.<\/p>\n But<\/em>. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re actually meant to see the shaman as particularly prescient here, though, because he\u2019s described as having eyes \u201cwide with fear,\u201d and every time a Nepurian character has been described as being afraid it\u2019s been seen as a sign of superstition. Yes, the shaman has been converted, but it\u2019s not like Jay is suddenly listening to him. And just a little bit ago, also after his conversion, the shaman was described as \u201ccowering.\u201d<\/p>\n Jay tells Lila to close the shutter. Lila walks toward the window, and then screams\u2014she says there was someone outside the window watching them. They all three rush over to the window, but they can\u2019t see anything. However, when they turn around, they suddenly realize that the door to the room is open.<\/p>\n The heavy door stood open as the cold night wind entered and raced around the room, raising the hairs on their arms and teasing the candle flame. The table in the middle of the room still had the old, open chest on it.<\/p>\n But the key\u2014the key to the Door\u2014was gone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Cool story.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I\u2019ll go ahead and spoil this for you. The person at the window was Gozan. He overheard their conversation about the key and the Door and the treasure, and rather than rescuing the teens as he was sent to do, he swiped the key and ran off into the night with it. So that\u2019s cool.<\/p>\n Jay tries to run after Gozan\u2014we know it\u2019s Gozan, but he doesn\u2019t\u2014but the shaman stops him.<\/p>\n \u201cBut he has the key.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe also has the curse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t any curse.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh no?\u201d<\/p>\n Suddenly there came a terrible crash of thunder and a cold blast of angry wind. The moon disappeared behind a boiling curtain of inky black clouds, and dogs all over the city began to howl and bark. From somewhere came a scream, and then another, and then the nerve-chilling shriek of a cat.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n I am\u00a0so confused\u00a0<\/em>right now. Are we meant to think that there actually is<\/em> a curse, and that Jay was spouting nonsense when he insisted that they should open the chest, because Jesus? If so, Jay never actually gets any comeuppance for his actions. And that would also mean that we\u2019re to assume that some of this Jesus talk has been too cavalier. I don\u2019t see that being the case. But Peretti is also not only having the shaman warn of a curse but also\u00a0describing a curse in action.\u00a0<\/em>I feel like I\u2019m being gaslit.<\/p>\n The shaman says they should all go find Dr. Cooper, which is the first good idea anyone has had in a long time.<\/p>\n They jumped from rooftop to rooftop and climbed up and down long, precarious stairways.<\/p>\n The clouds above them continued to boil and churn. Suddenly, frightening in their startling, night-shattering brilliant, huge bolds of lightening split the sky, accompanied by teeth-rattling thunder.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n This is going great<\/em>.<\/p>\n Also, what is this, a video game?<\/p>\n They take a shortcut through a tunnel filled with human bones and \u201ccat-sized\u201d rats.<\/p>\n At last, after squeezing through a very tight space between two stone walls, they came upon a well shaft that went down into eerie blackness, but also soared high above them. Water trickled down its sides while flashes of lightening flickered across the opening and reflected down the wet walls, lighting the shaft with spooky blue rays.<\/p>\n The old man started climbing a long series of primitive hand- and footholds made of stone, and Jay and Lila followed him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Yep. It\u2019s a video game.<\/p>\n Lila suddenly slipped. She grabbed Jay\u2019s foot just above her as her own feet tangled helplessly above the abyss. The old man held Jay firmly until Lila could place her feet in the slippery cavities once again. They then continued their long, vertical climb.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n What. If the shaman went first, how was the shaman able to hold Jay firmly with Lila\u2014who would be about the same size and weight as Jay\u2014dangles from Jay\u2019s foot? Did the shaman somehow reach down below himself somehow, to grab Jay? No. Physics.\u00a0They would all be dead.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n But, I mean. Video game?<\/p>\n They could hear the echo of the wind howling down the well, and charles of lightening came fast and furious. The wind whipped downward into the shaft and spit cold spray at their faces.<\/p>\n Finally, with a few last disparate clawing at the slippery stones, they emerged from the shaft and found themselves in a wide, deserted street. All around them, the windows were rightly shuttered; there was no sign of life anywhere. The clouds above still boiled angrily, and the lightening was terrifyingly close. The old man looked around, his face etched with fear.<\/p>\n \u201cPlease,\u201d he said over the rush of the cold wind, \u201cwe must call on the name of Jesus and his Father our God. Evil is rampant in the city tonight. Perhaps we have brought it upon ourselves.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Do you know what\u2019s bizarre? They\u00a0don\u2019t call on the name of Jesus.\u00a0<\/i>Instead, at that moment, Dr. Cooper drives up in his jeep. Maybe we\u2019re to see this as an answer to a prayer the shaman suggests they make, but no one ever pays any attention to the shaman (now, before, or later), so I don\u2019t think we can assume that.<\/p>\n Dr. Cooper drives up, Jay and Lila and their father are all thrilled to have found each other, Jay and Lila introduce the shaman as \u201ca friend\u201d and \u201ca new believer in Jesus,\u201d and everyone gets into the jeep.<\/p>\n