Peeking as a cultural instrument, must have come into its own with invention of lacework balcony. This not only affords the aforementioned screen for the observer, but allows him such a variety of metal frames for the object of observation as to keep the game fresh. A fat woman in a mustard-colored dress viewed through any one of the four right angles of an iron cross, appears symbolic, dignity in every scallop of powdered flesh, a champion of all fat women who own mustard-colored dresses. But the same women in the same dress, viewed through a series of interlocking circles of iron…appears ludicrous and entangled, drowning in iron ripples.
From
Black Wings Has My Angel by Elliott Chaze.
