Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Apo Calypso Chapter 6 part 8


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Chapter 6 Part 8

As the sun set in the west, tiny suns exploded into flame all over the south part of the city. Watching it, Panda was reminded of the night sky scenes from Bladerunner, where tall buildings that served as housing and factory combined, let off puffs of lethal flame into the perpetual twilight sky.  It was beautiful. It was also tragic.

“What is making the little explosions, Daddy?” asked Sorrel Bay.

“I’d hazard a guess that it’s the gas lines exploding as the fire goes from building to building,” he answered.

“And the cars going up in a blaze of glory when the fire heats up their gas tanks.” Said Dell.

“A blaze of glory. A Blaze of Glory!” Sorrel liked the sound of that.

Part of their view was blocked by the rooftop penthouse wall that took up most of the southwest corner of the building. Panda started to poke around to look for an entrance on this level rather than going back downstairs and through the halls to the front door. Walking around to the north side she followed a tiled walkway all the way around between the guard railing and the building wall.  At the juncture of the North and West walls was a little garden gate. Passing through it she entered a private garden terrace that was outside the French Doors of the second story master bedroom suite of the penthouse.  She followed the windowed wall all the way around to the south corner, where, turning it, she found what she had longed for: the perfect rooftop garden.

All along the southern wall of the rooftop penthouse was a raised bed and pot garden containing every herb and savory you could grow. Miniature fruit trees, even two avocado trees in huge glazed pots lined the railings. Cascading strawberry pots were overloaded with ripe berries and the lettuce bed was ready to be harvested. Perfectly staked tomatoes of at least 5 varieties at a glance were ripening in their pots.  The solid plate glass wall of the southern exposure windows reflected the last light of the day and Panda stood there to enjoy it as the rest of the gang rounded the corner of the building to join her.

Taking a look at the well tended garden, Paul told Sorrel to run back to the garden gate and put Polo outside. No sense in letting that pig root up the entire garden if left to run amok. “We’ll get a water bowl and food out there for him until we are ready to leave.”

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