"Come in, please." She stands aside and ushers him into the building, down a narrow and shabby tenement hall, and through another door.
Inside is a small room, walls draped in dark fabric. A long low couch runs in a half-circle around the far side of the room, upholstered in threadbare silk that might once have been dark red; an armchair done in leather of a similar color stands at the center of the half-circle. An ancient Victrola stands in one corner, its dark wood buffed to a gloss.
The room is lit by what appear to be oil lamps, hanging from the walls and the ceiling; their scent (something like cinnamon, something like ginseng, something like almonds) fills the room, blending with the smells of mold and dust.
"Please sit," the girl says, indicating the couch with one hand as she moves toward the room's other door. "I'll tell my grandmother you're here."
no subject
Inside is a small room, walls draped in dark fabric. A long low couch runs in a half-circle around the far side of the room, upholstered in threadbare silk that might once have been dark red; an armchair done in leather of a similar color stands at the center of the half-circle. An ancient Victrola stands in one corner, its dark wood buffed to a gloss.
The room is lit by what appear to be oil lamps, hanging from the walls and the ceiling; their scent (something like cinnamon, something like ginseng, something like almonds) fills the room, blending with the smells of mold and dust.
"Please sit," the girl says, indicating the couch with one hand as she moves toward the room's other door. "I'll tell my grandmother you're here."