Untitled
The pantry floor looks solid, and it's the...
10:06 PM, Friday, March 12, 2010
.. Link
The pantry
floor looks solid, and it's the closest to the
groundCome on, you two, let's pile up some ****
to stand onA couple of those beams should do
Jack, you can go first, then help meWe'll pull
Edgar up together
And that's how we did it, dirty and disheveled and
out of breath, scrambling first into the pantry
and going from there into the house itself,
looking around with wonder, feeling like time
travelers, tourists in a world that had ended over
eighty years before
18 - Noveen
969
i
The house stank of decaying wood, old plaster, and
moldy fabricThere was also an underlying
greenish odorSome of the furniture was left chanel classic handbag -
ruined by time and slumped by moisture - but the
fine old wallpaper in the parlor hung in strips,
and there was a huge paper nest, ancient and
silent, clinging to the ceiling in the rotting
front hallBelow it, dead wasps lay in a footdeep
hill on the warped cypress floorboards
Somewhere, in what remained of the upstairs, water
was dripping, one isolated drop at a time
"The cypress and redwood in this place would have
been worth a fortune if somebody had come up and
got it before it went to hell," Jack saidHe bent
down, seized the end of a protruding board, and
pulledIt came up, bent almost like taffy, then
broke off - not with a prada replica handbags snap but a listless crump
A few woodlice came strolling from the rectangular
hole below itThe smell that puffed up was dank
and dark
"No scavenge, no salvage, and nobody up here
partying hearty," Wireman said"No discarded
970
condoms or step-ins, not a single JOE LOVES DEBBIE
spray-painted on a wallI don't think anyone's
been up here since John chained the door and drove
away for the last timeI know that's hard to
believe-"
"No," I saidThe Heron's Roost at this
end of the Key has belonged to Perse since 1927
John knew it, and made sure to keep it that way
when he wrote his willElizabeth did the same
But it's not a shrine I looked cheap replica rolex into the room
opposite the formal parlorIt might once have
been a studyAn old rolltop desk sat in a puddle
of stinking waterThere were bookshelves, but
they stood empty
"So where do we look for these drawings?" Jack
asked
"I have no idea," I said A
chunk of plaster lay in the doorway, and I kicked
itI wanted to send it flying, but it was too old
and wet; it only disintegrated"I don't think
there are any more drawingsNot now that I see
the place
I glanced around again, smelling the wet reek
971
"You could be right, but I don't trust you,"
Wireman said"Because, muchacho, you're in
mourningAnd that makes a man tiredYou're
listening women gucci handbags to the voice of experience
Jack went into the study, squishing across damp
boards to get to the old rolltopA drop of water
plinked down on the visor of his cap, and he
looked up"Ceiling's caving in," he said"There
was probably at least one bathroom overhead, maybe
two, and maybe a roof cistern to catch rainwater,
back in the dayI can see a hanging pipeOne of
these years it's gonna come all the way down, and
this desk will go bye-bye
"Just make sure you don't go bye-bye, Jack,"
Wireman said
"It's the floor I'm worried about right now," he
said
"Come back, then," I saidLet me check this, first
He ran the drawers, one after the rolex swiss watches othe
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