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Stories from the Verse
In Verse Proportion
Chapter 93: Slade 198
Table of Contents
Previous chapter: Kondor 205
“Hardwood floors,” Slade observed.
“They’re very elegant,” Shella said, then, perhaps seeing his face, added, “is there a problem with them?”
“Oh, probably not. This world doesn’t have polyurethane, so it’s going to require frequent waxing. I’d go for wall-to-wall carpet, but not only is that outrageously expensive, it’s near impossible to clean without a vacuum cleaner. We could invent that, but it’s going to be a while before there’s residential electricity--maybe we should invent that, too, but not yet. Even rugs are going to be a lot of work. I had them do tiles in the bathrooms and kitchen, so we won’t have water damage.”
He looked around at the unfurnished space. “Well, for a while we’ll be living on the floor. Furniture is coming, but it’s all custom made to fit us so it might be a while. Meanwhile, we might as well unpack the few things we can put away. There are cabinets in the kitchen, and closets in the bedrooms. That’s a start, anyway.”
Grabbing his gear, he headed for the master bedroom, and spread his bedroll flat to accommodate both of them. Shella arrived a moment later and produced the quilted comforter, which he helped her spread over the bedroll.
Then they stared at each other. Neither of them had anything like hangers, and between them they had no cooking or eating utensils. They were going to need chests of drawers, a few bookshelves, a stand for Slade’s leathers, in addition to the bed, tables, chairs, and other basic furnishings already ordered.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do to get settled comfortably here,” he said. She nodded. Again they stared at each other in silence before he thought to say something else.
“I turned on the water heater. Do you want the first shower?”
“I’d prefer to share it with you.”
He smiled. “Best offer I’ve had in a while.” He started removing his leathers.
There is a behind-the-writings look at the thoughts, influences, and ideas of this chapter, along with twenty other sequential chapters of this novel, in mark Joseph "young" web log entry #448: Inventive Versers. Given a moment, this link should take you directly to the section relevant to this chapter. It may contain spoilers of upcoming chapters.
As to the old stories that have long been here:
