trying to see the top of it. Two high, arched windows gave the impressionthat the imposing structure was watching you, and above them the house was capped with a dark cupola with wrought-iron spikes reaching skyward and a small round window in the center that looked like a mystical third eye.
And the color! Or, more to the point, the lack of color! There was one word for this place, and that was
gray
. Everything on the house was some shade of gray, from the bottommost stones to the tips of the spikes jutting up from the roof. The worn wood trim on the doors and windows was such a deep and heavy gray that it was almost black, and the slate shingles looked like theinside of an abandoned furnace. A few broken shutters dangled from their hinges, swaying back and forth, caught in the wind that gusted continually about the tall building.
And if you came close to the house, right up to the front steps, you’d be able to read the one strange word carved in stone above the door. In neat, chiseled letters, such as those you might find on a gravestone, it said:
A funny-sounding word with a rather unfunny meaning,
schadenfreude
means “pleasure derived from the misery of others,” and it was a fitting motto for those who lived there.
And, perhaps, it served as a warning for curious passersby, as well.
3. The Twins
Looming over the landscape and casting a long shadow, this mansion rarely drew anyone close enough to read the word carved above the door. The house was so ornate and eye-catching that it might have been beautiful had someone
else
lived there. Had someone
else
lived there, with a fresh coat of paint and a petunia border around the lawn, it might have been bright and welcoming and the most popular house in town.
Alas, someone else did not live there.
Two
someone elses lived there: Edgar and his sister, Ellen. These two were not just brother and sister—they were twins, and should just one of them be trouble, then two most certainly would be double that. And just one was very troublesome indeed.
“The garden’s growing high, Sister.”
“Time to tear the petals off the roses, Brother!”
The twins were tall and scrawny, with black hair matted flat to their heads. Ellen’s limp pigtails dangled past her pointy chin, while Edgar’s hair was all one short length, except for the few strands that stuck straight up in the back. Both had pale, angular faces and wide, bulging eyes.
They wore matching one-piece, striped footie pajamas, with flaps on the seat that were handy when they needed to use the lavatory. The old, worn-in pajamas were very comfortable, and the twins kept them on all the time. What were once red and white stripes were now a stained and dingy rust and gray.
Their skills in the art of mischief were impressive and long-studied, having begun twelve years earlier in the womb. Although they were twins, Ellen was technically older by two minutes and thirteen seconds.
Oh, the fight the two of them put up to see who would enter the world first!
Their mother suffered hours upon hours of pain in the hospital delivery room as they punched and kicked each other inside her. Ellen must have edged out Edgar, because she finally emerged first, miniature fists held high in victory celebration. Edgar came soon after, and when the nurses first held up the twins side-by-side for their mother and father to see, Edgar took his tiny finger and poked Ellen in the eye.
4. Hide-and-Seek
One day near the end of summer, Ellen examined her garden through a grimy window and saw that it was wilting nicely in the muggy, late-morning heat. She hadn’t watered any of the plants or fed the fanged orchids in weeks, and the foliage had a pleasing droop, as if the plants might reach the ground and try to crawl toward nourishment and shelter. There was no need for Ellen to go out, as she had planned, to prune the hemlocks. So while most of Nod’s Limbs’ younger citizens were splashing in pools or
And the color! Or, more to the point, the lack of color! There was one word for this place, and that was
gray
. Everything on the house was some shade of gray, from the bottommost stones to the tips of the spikes jutting up from the roof. The worn wood trim on the doors and windows was such a deep and heavy gray that it was almost black, and the slate shingles looked like theinside of an abandoned furnace. A few broken shutters dangled from their hinges, swaying back and forth, caught in the wind that gusted continually about the tall building.
And if you came close to the house, right up to the front steps, you’d be able to read the one strange word carved in stone above the door. In neat, chiseled letters, such as those you might find on a gravestone, it said:
A funny-sounding word with a rather unfunny meaning,
schadenfreude
means “pleasure derived from the misery of others,” and it was a fitting motto for those who lived there.
And, perhaps, it served as a warning for curious passersby, as well.
3. The Twins
Looming over the landscape and casting a long shadow, this mansion rarely drew anyone close enough to read the word carved above the door. The house was so ornate and eye-catching that it might have been beautiful had someone
else
lived there. Had someone
else
lived there, with a fresh coat of paint and a petunia border around the lawn, it might have been bright and welcoming and the most popular house in town.
Alas, someone else did not live there.
Two
someone elses lived there: Edgar and his sister, Ellen. These two were not just brother and sister—they were twins, and should just one of them be trouble, then two most certainly would be double that. And just one was very troublesome indeed.
“The garden’s growing high, Sister.”
“Time to tear the petals off the roses, Brother!”
The twins were tall and scrawny, with black hair matted flat to their heads. Ellen’s limp pigtails dangled past her pointy chin, while Edgar’s hair was all one short length, except for the few strands that stuck straight up in the back. Both had pale, angular faces and wide, bulging eyes.
They wore matching one-piece, striped footie pajamas, with flaps on the seat that were handy when they needed to use the lavatory. The old, worn-in pajamas were very comfortable, and the twins kept them on all the time. What were once red and white stripes were now a stained and dingy rust and gray.
Their skills in the art of mischief were impressive and long-studied, having begun twelve years earlier in the womb. Although they were twins, Ellen was technically older by two minutes and thirteen seconds.
Oh, the fight the two of them put up to see who would enter the world first!
Their mother suffered hours upon hours of pain in the hospital delivery room as they punched and kicked each other inside her. Ellen must have edged out Edgar, because she finally emerged first, miniature fists held high in victory celebration. Edgar came soon after, and when the nurses first held up the twins side-by-side for their mother and father to see, Edgar took his tiny finger and poked Ellen in the eye.
4. Hide-and-Seek
One day near the end of summer, Ellen examined her garden through a grimy window and saw that it was wilting nicely in the muggy, late-morning heat. She hadn’t watered any of the plants or fed the fanged orchids in weeks, and the foliage had a pleasing droop, as if the plants might reach the ground and try to crawl toward nourishment and shelter. There was no need for Ellen to go out, as she had planned, to prune the hemlocks. So while most of Nod’s Limbs’ younger citizens were splashing in pools or
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