Page 198 of The Seven Rings
With the pets joining in, they went down.
“This is how it looked.” Again, Sonya opened her sketchbook. “I think all the lights, the lamps, the wall sconces, were gaslight. Whenever they put in electricity, they changed the fixtures.”
“You don’t want to go back to gaslight,” Trey said. “Just something that reflects that era?”
“Exactly. I want that vibe. The floors are in really good shape, and so’s the wall paneling. I like style. Actual wood panels. I’d put art up there, and leave the bells.”
“Get down to the reason.” Owen put his hands in his pockets. “Screen for the gaming. Best place for the pinball.”
“Pool table where they had their big, long table. It was bigger and longer than a regulation pool table. Screen, sofa, a couple of chairs over there. Pinball, jukebox over there.”
“Jukebox.” Owen flashed a grin. “Now we’re talking.”
“Card/board game table and chairs there, cabinet for games, shelves for display.”
“You can probably come up with the rest of the furniture from inventory.”
Cleo pointed at Trey. “I’m with you on that. Let’s do a quick pass down here. We can always go through the attic again, but there’s more down here. I’m not saying the Pooles were hoarders, but they sure didn’t let go easy.”
“Let’s backtrack a minute. Do you know anything about vintage pinball?” Owen asked.
“No.”
“That’s going to be our thing, me and Trey.”
“You can trust us,” Trey assured her. “I know a guy.”
“He knows a guy,” Owen verified.
“Friend of my dad’s. He used to own a bowling alley back when, and he still has a bunch of old machines. He restores them, repairs them—like a hobby now. He’s got Gorgar.”
“And that’s what I’m talking about.”
Sonya looked from Owen’s happy face to Trey’s. “Who or what is Gorgar?”
“The first voice-synthesized pinball machine. I’ve already tapped him. It’ll be ready when you are.”
“Happy to take that off my list.”
“He might have, or have a line on, vintage jukeboxes.”
“I can cross that off, too, if so.”
“You might put a foosball table over there.” Owen gestured. “Because, really, what’s a game room without foosball?”
“Sadly lacking, obviously. I’ll add that on.”
They went through as a group, separated, wandered. The house always held more than Sonya remembered. But nothing seemed quite right to her until she uncovered another area.
“Well, God, these are the chairs! These are the chairs that were around the long table. Look, look at my sketch!”
Trey looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, they are.”
“I see six, no, seven. There were more, and maybe they’re still here. But we could put four of them around the table, store the others for when or if we have more people. They’ll go back where they were. That’s just what I wanted to do.”
“There’s a nice chair here—if you wanted something like this. Fabric’s worn some,” Cleo added. “But you know, Son, it looks like one of the two you had in the sketch.”
Sonya worked her way over. “Cleo! It’s the one Mrs. Steele was sit-ting in. There were two flanking a table with a globe lamp on it. This is her chair.”
