When we got out there the house was dark and the cab driver wanted to wait, but I assured him that my friends would be home shortly, paid him off, and, after he had gone, walked the block and a half down to 1925.
The homes in this vicinity had cost money to put up. It wasn’t the swanky neighbourhood of extreme wealth, but it was definitely above the average. It was a new sub-division. The houses were modern, with lots of glass, and were, for the most part, low, one-storied affairs that had sweeping curves, intriguing designs and patios. They weren’t quite in the private swimming pool class, but they were getting close to it.
The house I wanted had curving lines around the living-room, then the house swept back to a garage. On the other side there was a long wing which stretched out to protect a patio.
I thought I’d like to have a look at that patio before I went in.
There was a bit of lawn, some ornamental shrubbery and a hedge.
I walked along the edge of the hedge, crowded past the shrubbery, skirted around behind the garage and came to the patio.
I wished I’d had a flashlight to help me find my way. Part of the patio was cement, part of it was where someone had recently planted a lawn. I blundered in the soft soil before I realised where I was and back out to the hard cement.
The house was so constructed that out here in the patio there was absolute privacy, so far as the bedrooms on this wing of the house were concerned. The girl who was standing in the lighted bedroom hadn’t bothered with the blinds on the bedroom windows.
It was modern construction, with steel sash, leaded glass french windows, wide steel-framed windows which opened and closed by simply turning a crank on the inside. It was a bedroom designed for a maximum of sunlight and fresh air. Privacy could have been insured by running heavy curtains across the entire side of the bedroom, but now these curtains were to one side, neglected.
The taffy-haired blonde who was standing in front of the mirror, surveying her partially clothed figure with quite evident approval, was the girl who had picked me up the night before as her escort, and had taken me to the motor court.