by Marshal Zeringue

Thelma Adams applied the Page 69 Test to her new novel, Playdate, and reported the following:

chapter 5

All the Zen euphoria Lance had felt with Wren had evaporated with the scent of the lavender candles. He stepped out of the shower, toweled off, shaved, and padded from the bathroom to the bedroom. Glancing around, Lance considered the Danish modern furniture as if entering a hotel room. It was nice enough, but he hadn’t chosen it. Darlene had. At that moment, he was entirely detached from it. He felt numb to his surroundings, as if he could exit naked and leave almost nothing of himself behind. He imagined exiting the front door into the glare off the white stucco, through the tended garden, past the birds-of-paradise and the ADP Security sign. He could stroll down the scrubbed sidewalk past new houses with Mediterranean Revival facades— and could keep walking, north or south, along the coast and start fresh. But he wondered if he…

69

This chapter originally began with a title, instead of Chapter 5. It was called “Free-Range Children,” (now the name of a blog by the wonderful journalist Lenore Skenazy). In it, stay-at-home-dad Lance and his yogi neighbor Wren have just had Tantric Sex in his bedroom, while his wife Darlene was at work and the kids at school. [Read more…]