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I could see him doing itI'm feeling around in the...
11:08 PM, Wednesday, May 5, 2010
.. Link
I could see him doing itI'm feeling around in the dark, for
Chrissake
"Yeah? Which arm you doing it with?"
That stopped me for a moment, but we had come too
far and shared too much for lies, even when the
truth was nuts
"All right," he saidI wish I
knew what was going on, that's allBecause
something is
"Maybe something isHow is she now?"
"SleepingAnd I'm interrupting you
"No," I said, and tossed the brush aside"I think
this is done, and I think I'm also done for awhile
643
Just walking and shelling for me between now and
the show
"Noble aspirations, but I don't think you can do
itNot a workaholic like you
"I think you're wrongWon't be the first timeAre you
going to come down and visit with us vintage fendi bag tomorrow? I
want you to see it if she lights up againAnd maybe we could hit a few tennis
balls
"Wireman, there's one other thingDid Elizabeth
ever paint?"
He laughed"Who knows? I asked her once and she
said she could hardly draw stick figuresShe said
her interest in the arts wasn't much different
from the interest some wealthy alumni have in
football and basketballShe joked about it, said-
"
"If you can't be an athlete, be an athletic
supporterHow'd you know?"
"It's an old one," I said
644
I hung up and stood where I was, watching the long
light of evening fire up a Gulf sunset I had no
urge to paintThey were the same words she'd used
with Gene HadlockAnd I had no doubt that if I
asked others, I'd hear the tiffany's jewelry designs same anecdote once or
twice or a dozen times: She said I can't even draw
stick figures, she said if you can't be an athlete,
be an athletic supporterAnd why? Because an
honest woman may occasionally goof the truth, but
a good liar never varies her story
I hadn't asked him about the red picnic basket,
but I told myself that was all right; if it was in
the attic of El Palacio, it would still be there
the next day, and the day after thatI told
myself there was timeOf course, that's what we
always tell ourselves, isn't it? We can't imagine
time running out, and God punishes us for what we
can't imagine
I looked at Girl and Ship No8 with something
approaching distaste and threw the cover-sheet
over itI never rolex watches knock offs added the red picnic hamper to
the bowsprit; I never put a brush to that
particular painting again - the final mad
descendent of my first sketch in Big Pink, the one
645
I'd named Hello8 may have been the best
thing I ever did, but in a strange way, I almost
forgot itUntil the show, that wasAfter that I
could never forget it
vi
The picnic basket
That damned red picnic basket full of her drawings
Even now, four years later, I find myself playing
the what-if game, wondering how much would have
changed if I'd pushed everything else aside and
gone hunting for itIt was found - by Jack
Cantori - but by then it was too late
And maybe - I can't say for sure - it wouldn't
have changed anything, because some force was chanel replica handbags cheap at
work, both on Duma Key and inside Edgar Freemantle
Can I say that force brought me there? NoCan I
say it didn't? No, I can't say that, eitherBut
by the time March became April, it had begun to
gain strength and ever so stealthily extend its
reach
646
Elizabeth's damned picnic basket
vii
Wireman's hope that Elizabeth was coming around
began to seem unjustifiedShe remained a
muttering lump in her wheelchair, every now and
then stirring enough to cry out for a cigarette in
the cracked voice of an aging parrotHe hired
Annmarie Whistler away from Bay Area Private
Nursing to come in and help him four days a week
The extra help might have eased Wireman's workload,
but it did little to comfort him; he was omega de ville watches heartso
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