The room was more faintly lit than the main part of the basement by only a dirty casement window which was partially obscured on the outside by a juniper shrub.
Rows of packing boxes laden with Christmas decorations, replaced curtains, carpet remnants and other valuables, clogged one end of the room. Bookshelves sagging with his father’s abandoned college texts and a load of dust ran from the door to the other end. Kim crossed directly to the corner of the room under the greasy window, however, where a faded blue bedsheet was tented over a baby’s crib. He hurriedly stripped off the king-sized sheet, hastily wadded it into a bundle and laid it on top of some boxes.