This is a nice little scene of domesticity from Harsho. Although scenes like this inevitably become less common later as we approach the big action climax of the book, I made a conscious effort when writing "Shades" to ensure that the action sequences were interspersed with little touches like this. It was my way of trying to keep the story grounded in something resembling the real world and of maintaining Stan's "everyman" perspective on the more larger-than-life characters with whom he associates.

I was, of course, extremely lucky that Harsho proved to be particularly adept at rendering these sequences.