We did not notice the three guys that emerged from the Ford Crown Victoria behind us; all three dressed in fringed deerskin suits and coonskin caps, presumably in character as Daniel Boone, except they were wired with earpieces, too. The guards had held them in the Crown Vic until we got into the little decorated tunnel that led to the house's entry hall, probably to reduce visual exposure of the guests outside their cars. We went through the artificial above ground tunnel that was decorated with several animated zombies and a creature that looked like the one in the old movie Alien, then another guard opened the main door for us, and we stepped into the entry hall. The hall was at least three stories high, and sitting just to the right was a towering metal contraption that looked like a cross between a ladder and a train trestle. It supported a huge optical telescope up at the top, which fit like a glove into an observatory dome on the roof, but did not touch it anywhere. I noticed big springs and dampers on the bottom which presumably provided vibration isolation to keep things sharp during long light gathering exposures. Set in the floor was a set of motors and gears that I supposed turned the telescope to try to counter the motion of the earth while the camera remained fixed on its targeted heavenly body. It certainly made for an impressive entryway. But no one in the entry hall was looking at the telescope right now; they were all staring, mouths agape, at my three hotly dressed companions. Life was good. I was also hit by a raucous volley of Suzie signals, and I was able to read the coverage very quickly. I realized that this party had several times as many people as the UDP shindig, and I was going to have the opportunity to read more Suzie signals at the same time than I ever had before, and that my only talent was still developing. Hopefully, this would count toward my ten thousand hours to become an outlier at reading Suzie signals. I guess I was already some sort of outlier for being able to sense them at all.
Off to the left was a three story tall waterfall, shrouded in fog. On closer inspection, it was a tall cascade of hot water falling on gently sloping walls of native limestone and granite, ending up in a giant hot tub, about the size of a hotel swimming pool. There were tables along some of the walls, and lots of little two seat tables in alcoves up at various heights in the wall with steps leading up to them. The walls were festooned with all manner of plants: several kinds of giant ferns growing out of planters built into the walls, flowering tropical plants in huge containers, and planted fichus and other tropical trees more than twenty feet tall that seemed to thrive in the hothouse environment. The whole thing was on the other side of a three story high glass wall, which was translucent rather than transparent for the bottom five feet or so. About half the people visible appeared to be wearing bathing suits, and half were not. There was a kind of coat check station near the entrance through the glass wall where you could leave all of your clothes and jewelry and the attractive female attendants would lock your stuff up until you returned. Paired with the hot tub was a pool of just about identical size that was apparently cool, since it was not steaming, and party revelers could go back and forth from the hot to the cold water freely, and many did, including one very attractive and very topless young lady whose wonderful nipples responded beautifully to the change in temperature. There was also a swim out that connected the cool indoor pool to a much larger outdoor pool, and guests were moving back and forth through it. The outdoor pool apparently featured two swim up open bars with two bartenders each, and business was brisk.
Suzanne said, "I don't want to swim, but I want to go out to the outdoor pool to check out something my friend told me about." We spotted a glass double door that led from the entry hall to the huge patio surrounding the outdoor pool. There was a south and east facing balcony that allowed a view of downtown and the capital, and the ESU tower was lit bright orange signifying the gridiron victory. There were dozens of tables arrayed about the patio, with lots of folks sitting, drinking, and talking. When the three girls marched towards the railing on the balcony, the volume of conversations went way down and the detectable Suzie signals went way up. Suzanne led the procession to the southernmost part of the railing, where we could see out and over the railing to the southeast side of the house. A huge section of the wall of the pool was exposed glass, like a big window, and you could see all the folks swimming inside as if it were a well lit aquarium. "It does have a window!" Suzanne said. "My friend said when you swim in the pool you could look out the window and see the ESU tower and I bet you can!" It was pretty impressive.
Lara said, "This is a cool party. Even if we don't solve the puzzle to get to the other one, I could have fun here."
I could tell from the look on Suzanne and Millie's faces that they were going to solve the puzzle to get to the other party or die trying. We spent a few more moments taking in the views from the balcony, and then decided to explore the rest of the house. We soon encountered Professor Lillehammer and his wife Dorothy, dressed as Benson and Stabler from Law & Order SVU. We talked for a few minutes, and they gave no indication of knowing about the other, later, party, and so neither did we. As we covered the areas that we had not looked at, I also saw Sarah, dressed as a very photogenic Playboy bunny, with her date dressed as a doddering Hugh Hefner, and she certainly was able to pull that off well. She looked hot as hell, and she was sending zero Suzie signals for her date, but some super Suzie for me as the Master and for the girls. I do not think she recognized me, or at least there was no indication that she did. That made me remember how much I was hoping Ms. Wyrickie, our Rhetoric and Composition TA, broke her tobacco habit and collected her promised sexual rewards from Sarah and me. I would certainly have something to talk to Sarah about before class Monday.
We then went through a long hallway that was lined with life size portrait photographs, presumably taken by our host, of a tremendous variety of local people. One was a famous football running back with legs like tree trunks, another of a former Governor and US President, and a now deceased local favorite mayoral candidate of the keep it weird set that always wore frilly feminine outfits over his very hairy and usually unwashed legs. Opposite them was big print of a venerable lady and former governor, then Willie Nelson, and Kinky Friedman. It was a striking set of contrasts. The hallway ended in a mezzanine space that overlooked what looked like a large, fancy, Sherlock Holmes style library and study, about three stories down, with bookshelves extending all the way up, but with no visible staircase or doors to enter the room from.
One wall of the study was completely covered in ornate wood paneling with intricate carved designs, and the other three walls were solid bookshelves. As we watched, an area of the paneled wall opened like elevator doors and a formally dressed couple presumably costumed as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers emerged from the opening, which quickly closed behind them, seamlessly disappearing. They obviously did not know how they got there, and they began nervously looking for a way out. Suzanne called down to them, "Look for books by Arthur Conan Doyle!" and they looked up at her with funny expressions, but thinking of nothing better to try, began scanning the shelves. The young lady cried out and pulled the top of a volume, and the wall and bookshelf spun 180 degrees, making her seem to disappear before the man's eyes. He rushed over to the same spot, scanned the books approximately where she had put her hand, and grabbed one. The bookshelf spun again and he too disappeared. Suzanne was transfixed, taking this all in. "We have got to get down there!" she cried.
"Well, you have an existence proof, don't you?" We turned to see a tall and grey haired woman with flashing grey eyes who appeared to be about 60, in granny glasses. Her Suzie was calling out to all four of us, but especially for Millie and to me. "They got down there, so there has to be a way!" She was wearing a high collared off white school marm type blouse, a fake pearl necklace, a cheap Halloween costume American Indian headdress that had only two decrepit looking feathers, some cheap and obviously Chinese made Kmart Indian beaded moccasins, and a holster with a big gavel in it. She had three political buttons on: 'Let's Move On', and "I'm Affirmative on Action", and "Yes, We Can!"
