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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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