| I thought I'd said
enough
vi
I wasn't sure I'd be able to nap, but I didThe
alarm roused me at three o'clockI went up to
Little Pink and considered my store of blank
canvasesThe biggest was five feet long by three
wide, and this was the one I choseI pulled my
easel's support-strut to full extension and set up
the blank canvas longwaysThat blank shape, like
a white coffin on end, touched off a little
flutter of excitement in my stomach and down my
right armI flexed those fingersI couldn't see
them, but I could feel them opening and closingI
could feel the nails digging into the gold gucci watches palmThey
were long, those nailsThey had grown since the
accident and there was no way to cut them
vii
471
I was cleaning my brushes when Wireman came
striding up the beach in his shambling, bearlike
gait, the peeps fleeing before himHe was wearing
jeans and a sweater, no coatThe temperatures had
begun to moderate
He hollered a hello at the front door and I yelled
for him to come on upstairsHe got most of the
way and saw the big canvas on the easel"Holy
****, amigo, when you said portrait, I got the
idea we were talking about a headshot
"That's sort of what I'm planning," I said, denim louis vuitton handbag "but
I'm afraid it's not going to be that realistic
I've already done a little advance work
The pilfered X-ray and Sharpie sketch were on the
bottom shelf of my workbenchI handed them to
Wireman, then sat down again in front of my easel
The canvas waiting there was no longer completely
blank and whiteThree-quarters of the way up was
a faintly drawn rectangleI had made it by
holding the shirt-cardboard against the canvas and
running a No2 pencil around the edge
Wireman said nothing for almost two minutesHe
kept looking back and forth between the X-ray and
472
the picture I had drawn from gucci backpack itThen, in a voice
almost too low to hear: "What are we talking about
here, muchacho? What are we saying?"
"We're not," I saidHand me the shirtcardboard
"Is that what this is?"
"Yes, and be carefulThe
X-ray doesn't matter anymore
He passed me the shirt-cardboard picture with a
hand that wasn't quite steady
"Now go over to the wall where the finished
pictures areLook at the one on the far left
He went over, looked, and recoiled"Holy ****!
When did you do this?"
"Last night
He picked it up and turned it toward the light
streaming through the big windowHe looked at
Tina, who was looking d |