The cottage looked no different with a full stomach than an empty one, yet I was still sure I had come the right way. I pored over the floor and walls and rifled through dresser drawers and doors looking for anything I might have missed - some little hole, perhaps. Nothing and nothing and nothing, each time I looked. Finally I thought to look higher and found what I needed in the valances over the windows. Inscribed on them in tiny flowing script were two parts of a poem, an idyll of country life and watching the days go by through the window.
At once I felt foolish for not thinking the obvious. I grabbed the nearest window and pulled up, only to find it was stuck. There was some gummy, honey-coloured substance coating the frame. As I watched more leaked out of the frame and immediately began to coagulate, undoing the loosening I had achieved.
At once I felt foolish for not thinking the obvious. I grabbed the nearest window and pulled up, only to find it was stuck. There was some gummy, honey-coloured substance coating the frame. As I watched more leaked out of the frame and immediately began to coagulate, undoing the loosening I had achieved.