New Beginning 710 (Chapter opening)

There were no screens on the long windows in the old houses on Third Street, and mostly no curtains either, but only wavy panes of old glass, or new thinner glass where any wavy panes had been cracked or broken. As the weather got warmer, the windows stayed open, even in the backs of the houses by the fire escapes, like no one believed anyone would ever want to climb inside to do them harm.

The houses were all the same, lined up one side and down the other on the street; and if you stood out i...