Midnight in Suburbia

Setting Information

Setting Inventory

Daniella's House = Setting #1 is where most of the action takes place. Ranch House Plans (DHSW69293).1 Thee are 3 bedrooms, with 2 full baths and a half-bath (accessible from the foyer). It is a 1 story with a small attic space accessible from the foyer. It has a 2 car garage. The living area is 2,091 square feet. There is a large front porch with steps three steps ascending to it.
         There is a dining room, family room, and kitchen (with a breakfast nook and pantry) accessible from the foyer. There is a master bedroom suite with a full bath two walk-in closets and a setting room. The master bedroom is accessible from the breakfast nook. Also accessible from the breakfast nook is a lanai with a separate barbeque porch. There is a short hall that leads from the lanai to a door to the master bedroom. There are also steps leading from the barbeque porch to the garden.
         Leading from the family room is a short hall that gives access to the other two bedroom. These two rooms share a full bath. One of the bedrooms has a walk-in closet, while the other has an ordinary closet.
         There is a study accessible from the foyer. A hall leads, from the foyer past the steps to the attic room and the half-bath, to a utility room. There is a door in the utility room that opens into the two car garage.
         There are several different types of flowers and flowering bushes in front of the house and along the stone walk leading to the front porch.

Amity's House = Setting #2 is a small one story house with an attic that is accessible through one of the closets. The porch is a wide and long cement step leading to the front door. There is a foyer, with a door leading to the family room. The entrance to the dining room-kitchen combination and another hall is from the foyer. The door leading to the backyard is from the dining-kitchen combination. There is another door in the dining-kitchen that leads to a china closet.
         The interior hall leads to the three bedrooms on of which is a master bedroom. The master bedroom has a full bath and a walk-in closet. The other two bedroom, which have ordinary closets, share a bathroom. There are two other doors in the interior hall one leads to a coat closet and the other to a linen closet.
         Amity's House = Setting #2 is a small one story house with an attic that is accessible through one of the closets. The porch is a wide and long cement step leading to the front door. There is a foyer, with a door leading to the family room. The entrance to the dining room-kitchen combination and another hall is from the foyer. The door leading to the backyard is from the dining-kitchen combination. There is another door in the dining-kitchen that leads to a china closet.
         The interior hall leads to the three bedrooms on of which is a master bedroom. The master bedroom has a full bath and a walk-in closet. The other two bedroom, which have ordinary closets, share a bathroom. There are two other doors in the interior hall one leads to a coat closet and the other to a linen closet.
         Additional Information: The dining room-kitchen was almost completely destroyed by an oven fire. There is still a roof over this area, but the ceiling walls and everything in it are completely covered with soot. The entire room has water damage. The door to the backyard is broken, as if someone broke in with an ax. The door to the china closet is blackened and covered with soot, it is difficult to open because of water damage.

Vegetable Garden is Setting #3 = Along the back and side of Daniella's house is a vegetable garden, which can be accessed from the barbeque porch. This garden is in a L-shape and is surrounded by a stone wall. The only entrance to the garden is from the barbeque porch. Sometimes Daniella uses the entire area for vegetables and sometimes only half of the area. All sorts of vegetables are planted here, but the type of vegetables depends on what Daniella canned the fall before she plants.

Doctor's Office is Setting #4 = This is a three story stand alone building. The first story contains a pharmacy, a reception area, an urgent care facility, and a snack area. The entrance is two double doors that slide open automatically. The urgent care facility is to the right of the reception area, while the pharmacy and snack areas are to the left next to the elevators and a staircase, which is easily accessible because it does not have a door..
         The second floor contains is an optometrist office, a gynecologist office, and a general practitioners office.
         The third floor contains geriatric care specialist, a pediatricians office, and oncologist office.

Interior of private jet: Setting #5 - The passenger area is divided into two sections with a see through panel-like wall between. On section resembles a living room with a couch by each window section. In front of the couches are coffee table-like tables. Against the see through wall are two recliner like seats. The other section contains 12 luxury passenger jet seats.

Hospice office: Setting #6 - A desk in the middle with a chair in front and behind it. There is a couch against one wall with a side table on the right and the left. There is a computer on the desk.

Ethan's apartment: Setting #7 has one bedroom a living room area and a kitchen dining room area. There are two dead bolts on the entrance door and there is a small patio behind the kitchen-dining room area. The apartment is on the first floor of the building.

Setting #8 - Preston's house in gated community of Las Vegas - This is a two-bed one-bath room ranch style home. The front door faces south and opens into a short foyer. When entering the house, the foyer opens onto the living-dining room combination. As one enters the house, on the right side of the living room is a short hall with three doors. The door on the right is to the master bedroom, which has a walk-in closet. The door to the left goes to a smaller bedroom with a regular closet. The middle door is to the bathroom. The kitchen is to the left of the living-dining room combination and is entered either through a door from the living room area or a door from the dining room area.

Setting #9 - Farnsworth and Coffey: Art Connoisseurs office - The entrance to this office is through a double sliding glass door. There is a reception desk that separates the entrance from the offices. Behind the reception desk is a hall that leads to four offices and a restroom. There are two offices on each side of the hall and the restroom is the door at the end of the hall. Two of the offices are furnished with a desk, couch, computer, printer, and several office chairs. The other two offices contain pieces of art such as pictures on the walls and statues on tables.

Setting #10: Memory Care Center or Assisted living home focusing on senior citizens with dementia. The rooms in this assisted living home are all on the ground level and there are no two story homes. The houses contain four to six bedrooms with a common living, dining, and kitchen area. The bedrooms can be for one or two person occupancy.

Setting #11: Hotel-casino coffee shop where Daniella & Amity have lunch on October 29 after arriving in Las Vegas from Oklahoma. This is a normal type of casino coffee shop with several tables and booths. There are two waitress stations, one is behind the counter and the other is close to the kitchen. The tables all have coffee cups and eating utensils on the tables. A host is at the entrance & guides the customers to the tables or booths. The host gives each customer a menu and asks if the customer want something to drink.

Daniella's House the Barbeque Porch

The barbeque porch, which is on the east side of Daniella Coffey's home, faces the vegetable garden. The garden, forming a L-shape along the back and side of the house, is surrounded by a stone fence. In spring and summer the garden is verdant with vegetables and fruits of different colors. There is a straw scarecrow, which looks like the scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, standing in the section of the garden facing the porch.

The barbeques porch is constructed of stone. While the barbecue pit, which has a stone chimney, is located on the side of the porch near the vegetable garden. The barbeque pit is constructed of stone with metal gratings to hold the meat or vegetables being barbecued. Winter and summer the barbecue porch smells of hickory. Setting on the porch is a large rectangular oak picnic table with oak six oak chairs sitting around it. There is a rolling cart on the right side of the door leading from the porch into the house. Descending from the porch, on both sides of the barbeque pit are six stone steps.

Description of Daniella's house from Amity's view point

I have only visited Daniella once and that was a year after she moved in. The surroundings are beautiful and lush, there are green plants surrounding the house and trees in the background. She says she lives in a suburb of Las Vegas, but the city is several miles from her house and down a two-lane paved mountain road. The house is dark brown with a covered front porch. I love the front porch because it provides shade from the sun.

Another intriguing feature about the house is its barbecue porch, with steps leading down to her vegetable garden. The garden is in a L-shaped section of the backyard surrounded by a stone fence. The porch has a stone barbecue pit with a stone chimney and there is a large wooden picnic table with eight or nine chairs, a lovely place to eat during the summer. The porch does not have a roof, which is wonderful since I could sit out there and watch the stars at night. Next to the porch is an enclosed lanai, with glass windows that allows you to look out into the garden. There is a short hallway between the lanai and the master bedroom; the hallway has glass on one side and it contains potted and hanging plants.

My favorite room in the house is her breakfast nook, which is part of the kitchen. My wonderful and successful daughter has a dining room that is separated from the kitchen. The breakfast nook is a good place to read and it has a few of Daniella's cookbook-journals within easy reach of the table. I also liked the bedroom I stayed in, which was decorated in greens and brown, my favorite colors. This bedroom had a huge walk-in closet and full bath. Of course, the bath is shared by third bedroom, but it is beautiful and exquisitely decorated.

Description of Daniella's house from Preston's view point

I like the way Daniella's decorated our bedroom, all though, since it is her house, I should say her bedroom. It is decorated in pinks and reds (red is my favorite color) with a king size country style bedroom set and a king size bed. I also like the large walk-in closet because it has enough room for both of our clothes. I also like the family room with it entertainment center, the satellite dish is not on the roof, like you would see in most houses in Las Vegas, instead it is next to the garage. The satellite dish Daniella has is huge, but it is concealed from the road so no one would know she owns one.

The two-car garage is attached to the house with a door opening into the the utility room. There is a hall leading from the utility room to the foyer and the rest of the house. The intriguing thing about this house is her small attic room. The door to the stairs is located in the hallway from the utility room and is next to the half-bath. This is a good place to put a half-bath. The foyer gives entrance to the rest of the house. Daniella's home-office, or study as she likes to call it, can be entered from the foyer. The office is decorated entirely in pinks, she even has a knitted pink computer cover the protect her computer system when she is not using it.

Description of Amity's house from Daniella's point of view

The house was exactly as I remembered it with the single long and wide cement stoop in front. I walk through the front door into the foyer from which I could go either turn right into the living room or turn left and go down the hall to our bedrooms. I could walk directly into the kitchen-dining room combination from the foyer and then go out the backdoor and step into the backyard.

The dining table sit in the middle of the dining room, almost blocking the entrance from the foyer. I never could figure out why it was placed there, but it stood in that exact spot for over twenty years. Everyone always went around it to go into the kitchen part of the room. The stove and kitchen sink was against the outside wall, while the refrigerator stood against the inside wall with that was shared with the living room. Shelves lined the wall next to the refrigerator. The china closet was next to the dining table.

Description of Amity's house from Ethan's point of view

The entrance to the attic is hidden in the coat closet which is located in the hall that leads from the foyer to the bedroom. Getting into the attic is difficult because you have to use a ladder to climb up and then get onto the closet shelf before opening the entrance to the attic.

There are six doors opening onto the interior hall. Three are bedroom doors, one is a coat closet, the other is a linen closest, and the other door leads to the smallest bathroom. The door to the master bedroom is on the south side of the hall with the doors to the coat closet and the bathroom, while the doors to the other tow bedrooms are on the north side of the hall. The door to the linen closet is at the end of the hall on the west wall. The master bedroom has a huge bathroom and walk-in-closet.

Vegetable Garden

Vegetable Garden is Setting #3 = Along the back and side of Daniella's house is a vegetable garden, which can be accessed from the barbeque porch. This garden is in a L-shape and is surrounded by a stone wall. The only entrance to the garden is from the barbeque porch. Sometimes Daniella uses the entire area for vegetables and sometimes only half of the area. All sorts of vegetables are planted here, but the type of vegetables depends on what Daniella canned the fall before she plants.

Vegetable Garden Description by Preston Farnsworth

I enjoy sitting on Daniella's barbeque porch and looking out over her vegetable garden. In the spring, the scent of fresh turned soil permeates the surrounding area. The soil is deep rich black, I am not sure where she gets such fertile soil, but wherever it originates it grows delicious vegetables. I never enjoyed veggies (as Daniella refers to them) until I started eating the ones she grows here on The Mountain. Now the only ones I enjoy are those she grows here in this little piece of paradise.

The garden is in a L-shape along the side and back of the house. It is surround by a block stone wall that is tall enough to cast a shadow across the garden when the sun sits in the evening. I am not sure why, she had such a high wall build, but it does not seem to effect the taste of the vegetable. Dani (that is my secret name for her) has a green thumb and can grow just about anything in her garden. The only entrance to the garden is from the barbeque porch, so no one from outside the house can get into the garden.

I like the looks and the scent of the garden when the entire area is planted with vegetables. The green plants stand out against the black soil and the perfume of the growing plants makes a person ravenous just sitting on the porch. On either side of the barbeque pit are three steps that lead down into the vegetable garden, once in the garden you have to be careful where you walk because Dani can sometimes get a bit upset if you step on her vegetables. However, if you are careful you can walk through the garden on a cool evening without any difficulty.

The only thing I do not like about the garden is the scarecrow, I think he looks too much like Ray Bolger in the Wizard of Oz, but Daniella seems to like the him. She says he gives her vegetable garden character. Maybe she is right, but on moonlit nights he can be a bit scary especially when the wind blow.

Vegetable Garden Description by Jesse Ray O'Hara

The barbeque porch is beautiful, with its greenish-blue tiles and the barbeque pit on the west side next to the vegetable garden. Ms Coffey lets me pick as many vegetables as I like when they are ripe. She always plants the tomatoes in the section behind the house, I think that is on the south side of the house, because she says they grow better there. On the west side, in front of the barbeque porch are carrots, zucchini, lettuce, and onions. She plants different vegetables in different years, so I never know from one year to the next what she is going to plant.

The most interesting things in the garden are the scarecrows. There are two of them, one in the section in front of the barbecue porch and the other behind the house. The one behind the house is a female and reminds me of Phyllis Diller, while the other is male and reminds me of Ray Bolger. I suppose, since Ms Coffey's cat and dog are named after movie stars, having scarecrows who look like comedians is logical. The scarecrows can be a bit scary on windy days though because the wind causes them to move in weird ways, it is almost as if they are real human beings. After a while you get used to it and they become part of the background.

Doctor's Office

Setting #4: Doctor's Office = This is a three story stand alone building. The first story contains a pharmacy, a reception area, an urgent care facility, and a snack area. The entrance is two double doors that slide open automatically. The urgent care facility is to the right of the reception area, while the pharmacy and snack areas are to the left next to the elevators and a staircase, which is easily accessible because it does not have a door..
         The second floor contains is an optometrist office, a gynecologist office, and a general practitioners office.
         The third floor contains geriatric care specialist, a pediatricians office, and oncologist office.

Doctor's Office Description from Daniella's point of view

I have never understood why the walk from the car to the entrance to a doctor's office is so long. I park the car as close as I can get, but there is still a long walk over how asphalt to the entrance. The entrance to Dr. Sylvia Morgan-Hughes office, in a three story stand-alone building, is through two sliding glass doors. On the first floor is the reception desk, an urgent care facility, a pharmacy, and snack area. The second floor contains the offices of a general practitioner, gynecologist, and an optometrist offices. The third floor contains the offices of a pediatrician, oncologist, and geriatric specialist (Dr. Sylvia Morgan-Hughes).

The elevator is next to the staircase, which makes choosing easy. The lobby, elevator and staircase are well lit; however, the temperature in the building is on the cool side both winter and summer. A person has to take a sweater or wear a long sleeved blouse when inside the building. The quickest way to the third floor, where Dr. Morgan-Hughes office is located is in the elevator; however, the stairs are an easy climb and good for people who have claustrophobia or a weight problem. I like the elevator, myself, because the music is easy listening and puts most people in a good mood before seeing the doctor.

For a doctor's office, Dr. Morgan-Hughes office is luxurious. The chairs in the waiting room are comfortable and easy to get out of, which is especially good for her geriatric patients. The reception desk is standard doctor's office reception desk and cannot be accessed by any of the patients in the waiting room. On either side of the reception desk are doors leading to the examining rooms. There is a third door in the office that leads to a restroom which is handicap accessible. The restroom has a toilet stool behind a partition and a washbasin. On the wall across from the washbasin is an automatic hand-dryer .

Doctor's Office Description from Amity's point of view

The building is beautiful constructed of a light stone that resembles granite. The parking lot is large and there are trees growing in the middle and on the edge of the lot. I do not know what type of trees they are, but I do not think they loose their leaves in the fall. The walk to the entrance is long and a bit nerve wracking because of all the cars and vans driving around.

Inside the temperature is cold. A person needs to wear a heavy winter coat when coming into this building. All the people are friendly, but there are no real seats in the reception area for people to sit on. There a just benches along the walls. The customer service agent behind the desk as all sorts of questions before directing a person to either the elevators or the staircase. Inside the elevators are only three buttons, a button for each floor. I should ask the customer service agent which button I am supposed to push, but Daniella seems to know her way around, so I will have to come with her if I ever come back to this place again.

The ride to the top floor seems a bit long, but the music is nice. It is pleasant to listen to unfortunately there are no words so you cannot sing along with the music. After you leave the elevator it is a long walk to the doctor's office. There are three door on the top floor each leading to a different office. It is a bit tiring getting to the office, so it is good that there are real chairs to sit on while waiting to see the doctor.

Footnotes
1  http://www.dreamhomesource.com/house-plans/dhs/styles/ranch-house-plans/dhsw6929...