Sheboygan

       ? ? ?       "My dear fellow," I remarked upon my friend's return from the closet, "I think it's a little too warm for a Russian invasion." Holmes, dressed (however impractically) in a floor-sweeping mink robe and matching boots, admired his reflection in the mirror from under the brim of a tall fur cap. "Dr. Watson, when the world stops fearing our cold-shouldered comrades it won't be a minute too soon. Toss me the slipper?" I threw him the old Persian slipper with the snuff shoved up the toe. He took a big pinch and flung himself down in his armchair. Taking the settee near the cold fireplace, I returned to my papers only to fi

 The dated plantation house, settled into its peaked eaves and columns, still managed to cast a shadow, though the late afternoon sun had yet to show itself. Wind chimes made from colored glass tinkled from the sizeable porch, and kudzu vines grew with wild abandon, obscuring the face of the building before me. The smell of loam grew tasteable as I strode into the armpit of the estate's shadow. While scrutinizing the twitching curtains from below, I nearly fed my nose to a door knocker shaped like a coyote. No, I thought, with a step backwards, it was shaped like a hand, assuming the form of a coyote, as if a shadow puppeteer had reached game