A Door Will Open
At the concert of renowned pianist and composer Arthur Campbell where he performs his famous tribute piece "A New American Rhapsody", many in the audience notice that he has a book with him on stage entitled, "This Gentle Thing Called Sleep". The one person who does know why he has the book with him is his wife, Sally Campbell née Gorten. The story... Arthur was once struggling to make ends meet when he lived in the boarding house owned by Sally's mother. Already two months behind in rent, Arthur vowed to pay eventually, which Mrs. Gorten had no doubt as she told him that a door would eventually open for him. As a gesture of good faith, Arthur gave the book to Mrs. Gorten, an insomniac, with a promissory note inside. Mrs. Gorten ultimately but seemingly impossibly led to that door being opened which led to Arthur writing among other things "A New American Rhapsody". But his success was threatened when a neighbor, Carl Lawrence, sued Arthur for plagiarism of "A New American Rhapsody", a manuscript which Lawrence had in his possession note for note. A then deceased Mrs. Gorten, who so believed in Arthur, would open that door for him one again to help him get out of situation by pointing him to the book.
