Chapter 56

I venture out into the hallway.

My bare feet sink into carpet still scented of the showroom. A tall window… It has to be twenty feet from sill to lintel… illuminates the stairwell. Slanted sunlight is captured by a vast chandelier, to be fractured, then cast in long rainbows over walls and panelling painted a cool eggshell white.

Around me, the staircase leading down to the ground floor, the door I just exited, plus three others, to left and right and across the hallway. In an air of experiment, I try the door to the left. Poking my head inside…

As though I shouldn’t be here…

… I find a bedroom, every bit as large and plush as the one I just slept in.

Then, Tutting at my own foolishness…

This is my house…

… I enter the lovely room.

A blur of impressions…

A high ceiling… Plaster covings, intricately moulded, and a matching rose in the centre, the setting for another chandelier.

Carpets deep enough to swallow me.