Brooklyn Crime Novel by Jonathan Lethem

Author:Jonathan Lethem
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2023-07-24T00:00:00+00:00

75.

Is the House for the Children?

(a questionnaire)

If the house isn’t a house, but an apartment, or an apartment in a housing project—or if it is a house, but the house holds persons numbering six persons or more, if a family includes cousins or aunts or uncles, elderly parents—never mind. This questionnaire will not apply.

However. Should two parents occupy a brownstone from top to bottom, whether it is a three- or four-story brownstone, and they bring with them one child, or two, or even three or four, then this questionnaire may aid in clarification of a certain concern. It is a concern lurking undescribed in the minds of the children, those who visit one another’s homes, whether just once or regularly. The millionaire’s home raises this question, certainly. Also the parlor housing the Board Games of Empire.

The parlor—start there. Is it a showpiece, or an adult’s sanctum? Is it out of bounds, or not, for the children? (The case of Board Games of Empire shows it may be a vacated sanctum.)

Entrances. Are both the entrances in use? The large doors at the top of the stoop and the gate tucked in beneath it? Is one designated for the children so that they may pass unseen? If so, is that a gift to them, or a requirement that they navigate exit and entry unguided? Will they be asked where they are going? Must they seek to be handed mugging money?

Has a bathroom been added on the floor where the children sleep, or must they use the stairs?

Are the children’s rooms renovated or unrenovated, in relation to the overall trajectory of the house?

Can fucking or fighting be heard through the walls in the rooms where the children sleep?

Where are the drugs and alcohol kept?

Is the kitchen someone’s alcoholic redoubt, to be approached on tiptoe? If so, is the house renovated so that the kitchen is in the rear of the parlor level, making it an unavoidable nerve center radiating through the house? Or is it tucked at the basement? (If so, question 2, concerning entrances, may be especially relevant.)

The backyard. Is it a showpiece, some fussy garden, or a space allowing play? If neither, if neglected or wild, is it accessible from a stair at the parlor level, or only through the basement? These are children who may need to be able to exit their home without exiting it to the street. Not every time. Not every damn time, to have that choice, the backyard or the street. The parents or the street. The backyard, it may be essential.

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