MD3PAD 4-6

[Toby G Levy]

Pages 4-6:

        Unnumbered page 4 is totally blank.

        Unnumbered page 5 begins Chapter 1.  This page opens the story
during a snowy December in a large busy house with children making their
way in the afternoon to a family room. The room they love to play in is
the one in which unneeded furniture is stored.

        Page 5 reveals that the year at the start of this book is 1786,
and the place is Philadelphia. This is where Charles Mason died earlier
that year.  The first named character is Whiskers the cat. The children
are identified on this page only as "the twins and their sister." They
and assorted friends gather in this family room to hear tall tales told
by the Reverend Wicks Cherrycoke. Cherrycoke (a name used for a bit
character in Gravity's Rainbow) came to Philadelphia to attend Mason's
funeral but arrived too late. The house belongs to his sister Elizabeth
and Elizabeth's husband, the Merchant J. Wade LeSpark. Cherrycoke is
invited to stay with them as long as he likes, and he soon assumes the
roll as entertainer of the children.

        One nice image on this page is of the city frozen over. Water
has frozen on every tree and the sunlight reflecting on it is described
as "Nerve-Lines of concentrated light."

Toby