Wednesday, May 5, 2010 - "In order to get the
right spacing between a...
"In order to get the
right spacing between a subject's eyes, painters
will often imagine or even block a third eye
between the two actual onesWhat about the mouth?
Did you center it using the ears?"
"Nothat is, I didn't know you were supposed to
do that Now it felt as if I were blushing all
over my body"I'm not suggesting y'all start
following a bunch of bull**** art school rules
after breaking them so spectacularly"Thirty paintings
since last November? No, it's even less time than
that, because you didn't start painting right
away
"Of course not, I had to get some art supplies
first," I said, and Mary laughed herself into a
coughing fit that she washed away with a sip of
Scotch
608
"If thirty paintings in three months is what
almost getting crushed to death does," she said
when she could talk again, "maybe chanel jewelry I ought to find
me a crane
"You wouldn't want to," I said I
got up, went to the window, and looked down on
Adalia Street"This is some place you've got
here
She joined me, and we looked out togetherThe
sidewalk caf? directly across and seven stories
below might have been airlifted in from New
OrleansA woman strolled up the
sidewalk eating what looked like a baguette, the
hem of her red skirt swirlingSomewhere someone
was playing a twelve-bar guitar blues, every note
ringing clear"Tell me something, Edgar - when
you look out there, does what you see interest you
as an artist or as the builder you used to be?"
"Both," I saidDavis Islands is
entirely artificial - the brainchild of a man
named Dave DavisHe was Jay Gatsby, Florida-style
Have you heard of him?"
I shook my head
609
"That just proves that fame's a mulberry bags fleeting thing
During the Roaring Twenties, Davis was a god down
here on the Suncoast
She waved an arm at the tangled streets below; the
bangles on her scrawny wrist jangled; somewhere
not too distant, a church-bell marked the hour of
two
"He dredged the whole thing from swampland at the
mouth of the Hillsborough RiverTalked the Tampa
city fathers into moving both the hospital and the
radio station here, back when radio was a bigger
deal than health careHe built strange and
beautiful apartment complexes in a time when the
concept of an apartment complex was unknownHe
put up hotels and swank nightclubsHe threw the
dough around, married a beauty contest winner,
divorced her, married her againHe was worth
millions when a million dollars was worth what
twelve million is todayAnd one of his best
friends lived just balenciaga replicas handbags down the coast on Duma KeyFamiliar with that name?"
"Of courseI've met his daughterMy friend
Wireman takes care of her
610
Mary lit a fresh cigarette"Well, both Dave and
John were as rich as Croesus - Dave with his land
and building speculations, John with his mills -
but Davis was a peacock and Eastlake was more of a
plain brown wrenJust as well for him, because
you know what happens to peacocks, don't you?"
"They get their tailfeathers chopped off?"
She took a drag on her latest cigarette, then
pointed the fingers holding it at me as she jetted
smoke from her nostrils"That would be correct,
sirIn 1925, the Florida Land Bust hit this state
like a brick on a soap bubbleDave Davis had
invested pretty much everything he had in what you
see out there She waved at the zig-zaggy streets
and pink buildings"In 1926, tiffany co jewelry Davis was owed four
million bucks on various successful ventures and
collected something like thirty thousand
It had been awhile since I'd ridden on the tiger's
neck - which was what my father called overextending
your resources to the point where you
had to start juggling your creditors and getting
creative with your paperwork - and I'd never
ridden that far up, even in The Freemantle
611
Company's early, desperate daysI felt for Dave
Davis, long dead though he must be
"How much of his own debts could he cover? Any?"
"He managed at firstThose were boom years in
other parts of the country
"You know a lot about this
"Suncoast art is my passion, EdgarSuncoast
history is my hobbySo Davis survived the Land BustI imagine he sold his stocks
on the bull market to cover his first round of
lossesAnd friends helped designer louis vuitton denim bags knock offs him
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