Top Highlights

• “I make it a habit to always pay attention when a woman speaks to me. It’s the ones who are out of their minds who have the most fascinating and insightful things to say.”
• A closer look at the artifacts beneath the bell jars and glass cases reveals items I can’t quite identify—a cap dyed several shades of brown, a jeweled claw, a set of pearly white fangs on a gold chain, and a dagger that seems to glow faintly silver where it disappears into its sheath. Pinned to the wall there’s a pair of
• dragonfly wings, much too large to have come from any dragonfly I’ve ever seen. Above them is a pair of antlers, sparkling white. In a glass cabinet in one corner there’s a tall golden staff with an amber orb at the top. And in that orb is an eyeball. I could swear when I glance away, then look back at it, the eyeball is pointing in a different dir...
• On the shelves repose various mechanical contraptions, mostly of the clockwork variety. Other knickknacks, bits, and bobs are tucked away on the rows of shelving that line the left-hand wall, and I catch a glimpse of more items secreted in glass cabinets to my right.
• Beyond that, I don’t attempt conversation, so they pass on, taking their drinks from the automatons and moving into the other rooms of the house, which are all open and brightly lit, smelling of cinnamon, apples, and spiced punch. We are nearing the midwinter holidays, and signs of the season are everywhere.