"In a minute, WiremanWe have
so little company... "In a minute, WiremanWe have
so little company here"What
kind of artist are you, Edgar? Do you believe in
art for art's sake?"
"Definitely art for art's sake, ma'amThat's the kind Salmon Point likes best
What do you call it?"
"My art?"
"No, hon - Salmon Point
"Big Pink it shall beAnd I shall be Elizabeth to
youI had to, because she was earnest rather
than flirtyIn a moment or two we shall go to the
television room, but first She turned her
attention back to the play-table"Well, Wireman?
Well, Edgar? Do you see how I've arranged the
children?"
There were about a dozen, all facing the left side
of the schoolhouseLow student enrollment
265
"What does it
dior logo say to you?" she asked"Wireman?
Edward? Either?"
That was a very minor slip, but of course I was
attuned to slipsAnd that time my own name was
the banana peel
"Recess?" Wireman asked, and shrugged
"Of course not," she said"If it were recess,
they'd be playing, not all bunched together and
gawking
"It's either a fire or a fire drill," I said
She leaned over her walker (Wireman, vigilant,
grabbed her shoulder to keep her from
overbalancing), and planted a kiss on my cheekIt
surprised hell out of me, but not in a bad way
"Very good, Edward!" she cried"Now which do you
say it is?"
I thought it overIt was easy if you took the
question seriously
"Yes!" Her blue eyes
omega watch orange blazed with delight
"If it was a fire, they'd be scattering in all
directionsInstead, they're-"
"Waiting to go back in, yes But when she turned
to Wireman, I saw a different woman, one who was
266
frightened"I called you by the wrong name
again
"It's all right, Miss Eastlake," he said, and
kissed the hollow of her temple with a tenderness
that made me like him very muchIt was like watching the sun
sail out from behind a cloud"As long as he is
still addressing one by one's surname, one
knows But now she seemed lost, and her smile
began to falter
"That it's time to watch Oprah," Wireman said, and
took her armTogether they turned her walker away
from the
borse gucci play-table, and she began to clump with
surprising speed toward a door in the far end of
the roomHe walked watchfully beside her
Her "television room" was dominated by a big flatscreen
SamsungAt the other end of the room was a
stack of expensive sound componentsI hardly
noticed either oneI was looking at the framed
sketch on the wall above the shelves of CDs, and
for a few seconds I forgot to breathe
The sketch was just pencil, augmented by two
scarlet threads, probably added with nothing more
than a plain red ballpoint pen - the kind teachers
267
use to grade papersThese not-quite-offhand
scribbles had been laid along the horizon-line of
the Gulf to indicate
miu miu clutch sunset
They were genius writ smallIt was my horizon,
the one I saw from Little PinkI knew that just
as I knew the artist had been listening to the
shells grind steadily beneath him as he turned
blank white paper into what his eye saw and his
mind translatedOn the horizon was a ship,
probably a tankerIt could have been the very one
I'd drawn my first evening at Number 13 Duma Key
RoadThe style was nothing at all like mine, but
the choice of subject-matter was damn near
identical
Scribbled almost carelessly at the bottom: Salv
Dalí
iv
Miss Eastlake - Elizabeth - had her cigarette
while Oprah questioned Kirstie Alley on the always
fascinating subject of
sac chloe weight-lo