Kafka's "Metamorphoses".

Russell Peterson lived on a farm out on Beavertail Road. A piece of ply-wood painted yellow was nailed to the shingles next to his front door. On it in blue letters was painted the phrase, "No charge to see cow. It is worth more for my cow to see you than it is for you to see my cow." Inside the door, three fishing poles sat in a pale pink painted metal bucket. Next to them was a shelf full of empty glass jelly jars, a bottle of Neatsfoot oil and a can of Raindance Liquid Car Wax. A pencil sharpener was mounted on the wall in the kitchen, and a rusty saw and a wire holder for grilling hamburgers both hung from nails by the front door.

The kitchen was painted blue. A big, black and white television set sat on a side table. Next to the television was a whole pineapple and half an onion.

Bertrand Russell 1907

"The Custer Fight" by Charles Marion Russell. Lith...

A can of neatsfoot oil and a small dollop of the p...

In the middle of the kitchen was a round table with a checkerboard painted on it. A chandelier with stumps of candles hung from the kitchen ceiling.

In the living room, there was a glass case above the fireplace with three dead butterflies stuck on pins. Underneath the case was painted the phrase "We no forget dis happy time we done got." There was a thick layer of ash spilling out of the fireplace and onto the threadbare oriental rug. The walls of the living room were painted a sickly green, and the ceiling was royal blue with white stars. There was a hole in the ceiling where one of Russell's children had dropped a sink.

Next to the living room was the library where the names of all the great authors were painted on the ceiling: Voltaire, Fabre, Moliere, Hugo, Browning, Shakespeare,