Chapter 9: Hallway - PI3

Chapter 9: Hallway - PI3

(Robert Quick, June 2nd, 2011)

Stepping out of the lift and back on to the normal floor was a relief. At least there was a floor here. Riding gusts of air might be fun for some people but it just made me11 nervous. If something went wrong it was a sixteen-story fall. I shivered thinking about it. I’d never liked heights, falling was worse.

My presence caused the lights to turn on, one section at a time. The ceiling lights flickered on first, followed by blue lights at ankle level, revealing the entirety of what was called H-PI3 in the blueprints. My brother always called it ‘pie’.

The hallway was polished and had countours rather than angles in Apple fashion. A single bonsai tree sent ripples of reds and browns bouncing up and down the corridor. Magnificent patterns emerged where the reflections of the bonsai tree met the blue light from the floor. At the end of the hall, next to an elegant door of dark wood, was a simple sign that read: OBSERVATORY.

My shoes made reassuring echoes as I walked up to the door and gently tapped it.

11

First use of the personal singular in the narration, and therefore, the first apparent change of narrator in Our Strange and Wonderful House. Previous chapters appeared to be a guided tour from a sanguine resident of the House, perhaps a member of staff; this is clearly a visitor, although one whose close family was involved with the construction of the House.