This one-"
She bent and very carefully picked up... This one-"
She bent and very carefully picked up the one that
showed the conch sitting on the horizon-line, with
yellow-orange sunset light blazing all around itexcuse me, so damn creepy
"I think so, too," I said"But really, it's
nothing newAll it does is dress up the sunset
with a little surrealism Then, inanely, I
exclaimed: "Hello, Dalí!"
She put back Sunset with Conch, and picked up
Sunset with Sophora
"Who's seen these?"
140
"Just you and JackShe calls
them asustadorJack says it
means scary
"They're a little scary," she admittedthis pencil you're using will smudgeAnd
I think it'll fade if you don't do something to
the
chanel purse white picturesBut I think you ought to show these to
someone who does knowSomeone who can tell you
how good they really are
I felt flattered but also uncomfortable"I wouldn't know who or where to-"
"Ask JackMaybe he knows an art gallery that
would look at them
"Sure, just limp in off the street and say, 'I
live out on Duma Key and I've got some pencil
sketches - mostly of sunsets, a very unusual
subject in coastal Florida - that my housekeeper
says are muy asustador'"
She put her hands on her hips and cocked her head
to one sideIt was how Pam looked when she had no
intention of letting a thing goWhen she in fact
141
intended to throw
chanel jewelry her current argument into fourwheel
drive
"Father-"
"Oh boy, I'm in for it now"You parlayed two pick-ups, a
used Korean War bulldozer, and a twenty-thousanddollar
loan into a million-dollar businessAre
you going to stand there and tell me you couldn't
get a few art gallery owners to look at your
pictures if you really set your mind to it?"
She softened
"I mean, these are good, DaddyAll I've got
for training is one lousy Art Appreciation course
in high school, and I know that
I said something, but I'm not sure whatI was
thinking about my frenzied quick-sketch of Carson
Jones, alias The Baptist HummingbirdWould she
think that
louis vuitton mahina one was also good, if she saw it?
But she wasn't going toNot that one, and not the
one of the person in the red robe
That was what I thought then
"Dad, if you had this talent in you all the time,
where was it?"
142
"I don't know," I said"And how much talent we're
talking about is still open to question
"Then get someone to tell you, okay? Someone who
knows She picked up my mailbox drawingit's nothing special, except it isWhy'd you put a rocking horse in the
picture, Dad?"
"I don't know," I said"It just wanted to be
there
"Did you draw it from memory?"
"NoI can't seem to do thatEither because of
the accident or because I never had
men's gucci wallet that
particular skill in the first place Except for
sometimes when I didWhen it came to young men in
Twins tee-shirts, for instance"I found one on
the Internet, then printed-"
"Oh shit, I smudged it!" she cried"Oh, shit!"
"Ilse, it's all right
"It's not all right and it does matter! You need
to get some fucking paints!" She replayed what
she'd just said and clapped a hand over her mouth
"You probably won't believe this," I said, "but
I've heard that word a time or twoAlthough I
143
have an idea that maybe your boyfriend
"You got that right," she said"But he can let out a pretty good
gosh-darn when somebody cuts him off in
chanel classic handbag traff