There was some dampness on the lower stair...
There was some
dampness on the lower stair risers, which were
carpeted, but dampness was all it was
I wouldn't admit to myself that I'd been looking
for footprints
521
I went to the kitchen, made a chicken sandwich,
and gobbled it standing at the counterI grabbed
a beer from the fridge to wash it downWhen the
sandwich was gone, I ate the remains of the
previous day's salad, more or less floating in
Newman's Own FrenchThen I went into the living
room to call El PalacioWireman answered on the
first ringI was prepared to tell him I'd been
outside, looking to see if the storm had done any
damage to the house, but my whereabouts at the
time of his call were the last thing omega mens watch fake on Wireman's
mindWireman was crying and laughing
"I can see! As well as ever! Left eye's as clear
as a bellI can't believe it, but-"
"Slow down, Wireman, I can barely make you out
He didn't slow down"A pain
went through my bad eye at the height of the
stormpain like you wouldn't believeI thought we'd been struck by
lightning, so help me GodI tore off the
eyepatchand I could see! Do you understand
what I'm telling you? I can see!"
"Yes," I said
"Was it you? It was, wasn't it?"
522
I said, "MaybeI've got a painting for
youI'll bring it tomorrow"I'd
take good care of it, amigoI don't think it
matters what happens to them once they're done,
but I also thought Kerry was gucci uk gonna beat Bush"Oh, verdad, I heard thatWas
it hard?"
A thought struck me before I could answer"Was
the storm hard on Elizabeth?"
"Oh man, awfulThey always scare her, but this
oneScreaming about her
sistersTessie and Lo-Lo, the ones who drowned
back in the nineteen-twentiesShe even had me
going for awhile thereAre
you okay? Was it hard?"
I looked at the scatterings of sand on the floor
between the front door and the stairsSurely no
footprints thereIf I thought I was seeing more
than sand, that was just my fucking artistic
imaginationBut it's all over now
I hoped that was true
xxi
523
We talked for another five minutesor rather
Wireman talkedThe last thing
he said was chanel tote that he was afraid to go to sleepHe
was afraid he might wake up to discover he was
blind in his left eye againI told him I didn't
think he had to worry about that, wished him a
good night, and hung upWhat I was worried about
was waking up in the middle of the night to
discover Tessie and Laura - Lo-Lo, to Elizabeth -
sitting on either side of my bed
One of them perhaps holding Reba on her damp lap
I took another beer and went back upstairsI
approached the easel with my head down, staring at
my feet, then looked up quickly, as if hoping to
catch the portrait by surprisePart of me - a
rational part - expected to see it defaced by
paint splattered from hell to breakfast, a latest dior bag partial
Wireman obscured by the daubs and blotches I'd
thrown at the canvas during the thunderstorm, when
my only real light had been lightningThe rest of
me knew betterThe rest of me knew that I'd been
painting by some other light (just as blinded
knife-throwers use some other sense to guide their
524
hands)That part knew Wireman Looks West had
turned out just fine, and that part was right
In some ways it was the best work I did on Duma
Key, because it was my most rational work - up
until the end, remember, Wireman Looks West had
been done in daylightAnd by a man in his right
mindThe ghost haunting my canvas had become a
sweetheart of a face, young and calm omega replica watches and
vulnera