"I was sort of assuming you meant to call... "I was sort of assuming you meant to call it
'Roses Grow from Shells,'" she said
"It is," I said, looking out to the Florida room
and the Gulf beyondThe water was a brilliant
blue-white plate; I had to squint against the
glare"But it's not quite right
"You have one you like better, I take it?"
"Yes, I think soI want to call it 'The View from
Duma' What do you think?"
Her response was immediate
ix
577
I had sweat through my LOSE IT IN THE VIRGIN
ISLANDS tee-shirt in spite of Big Pink's efficient
air conditioning, and I was more exhausted than a
brisk walk to El Palacio and back left me these
daysMy ear felt hot and throbby from the
telephoneI felt uneasy about Ilse - the way
parents are always uneasy about the problems of
their children, I suppose, once they're too old to
be called home when it starts to get dark and the
baths are being drawn - but I also felt satisfied
with the work I'd put in, the way I used to feel
after a good day on a hard construction job
I didn't feel particularly
gucci bag black hungry, but I made
myself slop a few tablespoons of tuna salad onto a
lettuce leaf and washed it down with a glass of
milkWhole milk - bad for the heart, good for the
bonesI guess that one's a wash, Pam would have
saidI turned on the kitchen TV and learned that
Candy Brown's wife was suing the City of Sarasota
over her husband's death, claiming negligence
Good luck on that one, sweetheart, I thoughtThe
local meteorologist said the hurricane season
might start earlier than everAnd the Devil Rays
578
had gotten their low-rent asses kicked by the Red
Sox in an exhibition game - welcome to baseball
reality, boys
I considered dessert (I had Jell-O Pudding,
sometimes known as The Last Resort of the Single
Man), then just put my plate in the sink and
limped off to the bedroom for a napI considered
setting the alarm, then didn't bother; I'd
probably only dozeEven if I actually slept, the
light would wake me up in an hour or so, when it
got over to the western side of the house and came
angling in the
omega planet ocean watches bedroom window
So thinking, I lay down and slept until six
o'clock that evening
x
There was no question of supper; I didn't even
consider itBelow me the shells were whispering
paint, paint
I went upstairs to Little Pink like a man in a
dream, wearing only my undershortsI turned on
The Bone, set Girl and Ship No7 against the wall,
and put a fresh canvas - not as big as the one I'd
579
used for Wireman Looks West, but big - on my easel
My missing arm was itching, but this no longer
bothered me the way it had at first; the truth was,
I'd almost come to look forward to it
Shark Puppy was on the radio: "DigLife is more than love and
pleasure
I remember clearly how the whole world seemed to
be waiting for me to begin - that was how much
power I felt running through me while the guitars
screamed and the shells murmured
I came here to dig for treasure
I painted until the sun was gone and the moon cast
its bitter rind of white light over the water and
after that was gone, too
If you want to play you
hermes birkin bag gotta pay
xi
580
The sight of Dario in a suit and a tie, with his
lush hair tamed and combed straight back from his
forehead, scared me even more than the murmuring
audience that filled Geldbart Auditorium, where
the lights had just been turned down to half
except for the spotlight shining down on the
lectern standing at center stage, that wasThe
fact that Dario himself was nervous - going to the
podium he had nearly dropped his note-cards -
scared me even worse
"Good evening, my name is Dario Nannuzzi," he said
"I am cocurator, and chief buyer at the Scoto
Gallery on Palm AvenueMore importantly, I have
been a part of the Sarasota art community for
thirty years, and I hope you will excuse my brief
descent into what some might call Bobbittry when I
say there is no finer art community in America
This brought enthusiastic applause from an
audience which - as Wireman said later - might
know the difference between Monet and Manet, but
apparently didn't have a clue that there was a
difference between
discount hermes George Babbitt and John Bobbitt
Standing in the wings, suffering through that
581
purgatory only frightened main speakers experience
as their introducers wind their slow and
peristaltic courses, I hardly noticed
Dario shifted his top file-card to the bottom,
once again nearly dropped the whole stack,
recovered, and looked out at his audience again
"I hardly know where to begin, but to my relief I
need say very little, for true talent seems to
blaze up from nowhere, and serves as its own
introduction
That said, he proceeded to introduce me for the
next ten minutes as I stood in the wings with my
one lousy page of notes clutched in my remaining
handNames went past like floats in a paradeA
few, like Edward Hopper and Salvador Dalí, I knew
Others, like Yves Tanguy and Kay Sage, I didn't
Each unknown name made me feel more of an impostor
The fear I felt was no longer mental; it clamped a
deep and stinking hold in my bowelsI felt like I
needed to pass gas, but I was afraid I might load
my pants
replica gucci canvas bag instead