Rose
answered lazily. Her lids drooped slowly. Lazily
she stretched and there was the soft sound of moving cloth.
Even
the shadows were light. Pale beige, palest
blue, they were merely indistinct objects tossed
high on walls, in corners, like severed insect
wings magnified, or like
forgotten veils.
Children's
smocks hung on pegs unused.
"How
early do you think it is?"
"Does
it matter? You know it doesn't."
"No,
but guess."
"Oh,
I see," Cleo again rested her head upon her pillows and
her pale golden strands swirled outward and entered
and clasped the dark. Where the sun touched
a corner in a triangle of brilliant white, there
the dark flourished auburn and the gold rendered copper.
Cleo speculated. "The
church bell will tell us soon."
"The
streetcars are running, hear the rumble?"
"Madam
Chalbuerre's canary is singing."
"It
must be after 8."
"It
will be hot, then."
"That's
what summer is for."
Rose
remembered, and fell into it.