Dangerous Neighbors, an Academy of Music excerpt

I snapped this photograph long before the Alvin Ailey dancers took the stage at the Academy of Music yesterday.  I was thinking of my twins, in my Centennial novel Dangerous Neighbors—a scene of them together in this music hall, awaiting the arrival of Adelina Patti.  From the book, then:

It is another world inside. It is stone sheen, gold, and gaslight. “Oh, Anna,” Katherine says, and Anna presses her hand to her heart. Even then, even before she knows what will be stolen from her, even before she is aware of the possibility, Katherine wants every inch of this one birthday evening for keeps. She wants to lodge it deep, for all of time. She leads the way up the stairs and through the crowds and toward an arch and through a door and down the aisle toward their cushioned seats, holding Anna’s hand. High above is the crystal chandelier, and Anna won’t take her eyes off it; in Anna’s eyes it shines. It’s like the icicles that form on the edge of a roof when the sun gets trapped inside—a cascade of ice and sun.

“Like sitting inside a jewelry box,” Anna whispers, and Katherine nods.