CHAPTER NINETY-THREE Waking suddenly at around 3:30AM, Cissy felt uneasy. The nocturnal sounds of the White House that echoed through the second floor bedroom spooked her. There were the typical old house creaks and groans, as well as sounds caused by movement of Security personnel and, possibly, grounds patrols. John remained fast asleep, so she spared him. Ghosts, maybe? Some had said so. But she thought it probably had to do with the newly installed metal plates in the walls – shields, she’d been told, against future terrorist attacks, rockets and bullets. Planking that came with the rebuilding after the fire of 1812, plus bullet-proof windows, also played a role in the strange, kind of hollow sensation of the old mansion. The ear hardly knew what it did or didn’t hear.
"He contemplated the crazed complexity of his life." And I thought MY frequent self-contemplations were crazed.
Crazed complexity needs to be treaded for simple and relaxed contemplation as much as possible. A nice goal anyway!