through the doorway of what was surely the living
room and saw it was a very messy room. There were
magazines strewn about the furniture and an the floor.
A blanket was crumpled at the foot of the large darkbrown pillow sofa. Glasses and dishes were on the
long, narrow, wooden coffee table, and a towel had
been tossed to or dropped on the other side of that. I
couldn't see much more because we were walking too
quickly for me to pause, but I did catch a glimpse of
stockings hanging on the fireplace, Christmas
stockings. What were they doing there now? It was
only August.
The stairs creaked and moaned as we ascended,
and the railing shook. I looked back and saw that
Felix was eyeing it with some concern and caution. "Don't lean on it." he warned.
When we reached the second landing. Greataunt Frances paused and gazed about, as if she was
trying to remember where my room was herself. Then
she smiled and started down to our right. Because
there were no windows in the hallway and the
chandeliers in the ceiling were unlit and also missing
bulbs, it was so dark that I felt we were walking
through a tunnel of shadows. I could barely make out
the few pictures hung along the way. They were
depictions of country scenes, men and women riding
horses with dogs trailing along. There was a picture of
a lake with a young woman looking out over it as if
she was waiting desperately for someone.
I wasn't watching where I was going, so I
nearly screamed when Miss Puss charged past me,
grazing my lower leg and shooting ahead into the first
open doorway.