Ilse is the one who's been
on Duma KeyWho's been down the road that leads
past El Palacio
As shrewd as he was, I don't think Kamen had any
idea that anything was wrong - but of course he'd
been traveling all day and was far from his best
Wireman, however, was looking at me with his head
cocked slightly to one side and his brow furrowed
And by then, I think Wireman knew me better than
Dr
"She knew you already had one," Kamen was saying
"She thought a pair would remind you of both
daughters, and Melinda agreedBut of course,
Lucys are all I have-"
"Lucys?" Wireman asked, taking the dollHer pink
rag-stuffed legs dangledHer shallow eyes stared
600
"They look like Lucille Ball, don't you think? I
give them to some of my replica tiffany jewelry patients, and of course
they give them their own namesWhat did you name
yours, Edgar?"
For a moment the old frost descended on my brain
and I thought Rhonda Robin Rachel, sit in the
buddy, sit in the chum, sit in the fucking CHAR
Then I thought, It was RED"Just like the country singer
"And do you still have her?" Kamen asked
"Oh, yes," I said, and remembered Wireman talking
about the Powerball, how you could close your eyes
and hear the numbers falling into place: Click and
click and clickI thought I could hear that now
The night I'd finished Wireman Looks West, I'd had
visitors at Big Pink, little refugees seeking
shelter from the stormElizabeth's drowned
sisters, Tessie and Laura EastlakeNow I was
meant to have twins in Big chanel necklace Pink again, and why?
Because something had reached out, that was why
Something had reached out and put the idea in my
daughter's headThis was the next click of the
601
wheel, the next Ping-Pong ball to pop out of the
basket
"Edgar?" Wireman asked"Are you all right,
muchacho?"
"Yes," I said, and smiledThe world came swimming
back, in all its light and colorI made myself
take the doll from Juanita, who was looking at it
with puzzlementIt was a hard thing to do, but I
managed
He shrugged and spread his hands"Thank your
girls, Ilse in particularWho's ready for another glass of
champagne?"
They all wereI replaced my new doll in her box,
promising myself two thingsOne was that neither
of my daughters would ever know how badly chloe white seeing
the damned thing had frightened meThe other
promise was that I knew two sisters - two living
sisters - who were never, ever, going to set foot
on Duma Key at the same timeOr ever, if I could
help it
That was one promise that I kept
12 - Another Florida
602
i
"All right, Edgar, I think we're almost finished
Maybe she saw something on my face, because Mary
laughed"Has it been that awful?"
"No," I said, and it hadn't been, really, although
her questions about my technique had made me feel
uncomfortableWhat it came down to was I looked
at things, then slopped on the paintThat was my
techniqueAnd influences? What could I say? The
lightIt always came down to the light, both in
the pictures I liked to look at and the fendi spy bags ones I
liked to paintWhat it did to the surface of
things, and what it seemed to suggest about what
was inside, hunting a way outBut that didn't
sound scholarly; to my ears it sounded goofy
"Okay," she said, "last subject: how many more
paintings are there?"
We were sitting in Mary Ire's penthouse apartment
on Davis Islands, a tony Tampa enclave which
looked to me like the art deco capital of the
worldThe living room was a vast, nearly empty
space with a couch at one end and two slingback
chairs at the otherThere were no books, but then,
603
there was no TV, eitherOn the east wall, where
it would catch the early light, was a large David
HockneyMary and I were at opposite ends of the
couchShe had her shorthand pad in her gucci book bags la

He pointed to Sunset with
Seagull"Step two is I write the check
The little crowd laughedDario Nannuzzi didn't
310
"Excuse me," I said to the white-haired man
"Price of poker just went up, my friend," someone
said to Gin-Blossoms, and there was laughterGin-
Blossoms joined in, but didn't look really amused
I noticed all this as though in a dream
Nannuzzi smiled at me, then turned to the patrons,
who were still looking at my paintings"Ladies
and gentlemen, MrFreemantle didn't come in to
sell anything today, only for an opinion on his
workPlease respect his privacy and my
professional situation Whatever that is, I
thought, bemused"May I suggest omega automatic seamaster watch that you browse
the works on display while we step into the rear
quarters for a little while? MsCastellano will be pleased to
answer all your questions
"My opinion is that you ought to sign this man
up," said a severe-looking woman with her graying
hair drawn back into a bun and a kind of wrecked
beauty still lingering on her faceThere was
actually a smattering of applauseMy feeling of
being in a dream deepened
An ethereal young man floated toward us from the
rearNannuzzi might have summoned him, but I was
311
damned if I knew just howThey spoke briefly, and
then the young man produced a big roll of stickers
They were ovals with the letters mulberry bayswater bag NFS embossed on
them in silverNannuzzi removed one, bent toward
the first painting, then hesitated and gave me a
look of reproach"These haven't been sealed in
any wayexactly know what that is
"Dario, what you're dealing with here is a true
American primitive," said the severe-looking woman
"If he's been painting longer than three years,
I'll buy you dinner at Zoria's, along with a
bottle of wine She turned her wrecked but still
almost gorgeous face to me
"When and if there's something for you to write
about, Mary," Nannuzzi said, "I'll call you
myself
"You'd better," she said"And I'm not even going
to ask his name - do you see what a good omega ladies watch girl I
am?" She twiddled her fingers at me and slipped
through the little crowd
"Not much need to ask," Jack said, and of course
he was rightI had signed each of the oils in the
312
lower left corner, just as neatly as I had signed
all invoices, work orders, and contracts in my
other life: Edgar Freemantle
vii
Nannuzzi settled for dabbing his NFS stickers on
the upper righthand corners of the paintings,
where they stuck up like the tabs of file-folders
Then he led Wireman and me into his officeJack
was invited but elected to stay with the pictures
In the office, Nannuzzi offered us coffee, which
we declined, and water, which we acceptedI cheap chanel purses also
accepted a couple of Tylenol capsules
"Who was that woman?" Wireman asked
"Mary Ire," Nannuzzi said"She's a fixture on the
Suncoast art scenePublishes a free culturevulture
newspaper called BoulevardIt comes out
once a month during most of the year, once every
two weeks during the tourist seasonShe lives in
Tampa - in a coffin, according to some wits in
this businessNew local artists are her favorite
thing
"She looked extremely sharp," Wireman said
313
Nannuzzi shruggedShe's helped
a lot of artists, and she's been around forever
That makes her important in a town where we live -
to a large extent - on the transient trade
"I see," Wireman gucci backpack said

I played him Nannuzzi's messageWireman laughed
and pumped his fistIt was hard not to be touched
by his pleasure, which bordered on glee"You're
on your way, muchacho - this is your other life
for sureCan't wait to see you on the cover of
Time He held his hands up, as if framing a cover
476
"There's only one thing about it that worries me,"
I saidand then had to laughActually a lot of
things about it worried me, including the fact
that I had not the slightest idea what I was
letting myself in for"My daughter may want to
comeThe one who visited me down here
"What's wrong with that? Most men would be
delighted to have their daughters watch them prada black bags turn
proYou going to eat that last piece of lasagna?"
We split itBeing of artistic temperament, I took
the bigger half
"I'd love her to comeBut your boss-lady says
Duma Key is no place for daughters, and I sort of
believe her
"My boss-lady has Alzheimer's, and it's really
starting to biteThe bad news about that is she
doesn't know her ass from her elbow anymoreThe
good news is she meets new people every day
"She said the thing about daughters twice, and she
wasn't fogged out either time
"And maybe she's right," he said"Or possibly
it's just a bee in Miss Eastlake's bonnet, based
477
on the fact that a couple of her sisters died here
when she was gucci men wallet four
"Ilse vomited down the side of my carWhen we got
back here she was still so sick she could hardly
walk
"She probably just ate the wrong thing on top of
too much sunLook - you don't want to take a
chance and I respect thatSo what you're going to
do is put both daughters up in a good hotel where
there's twenty-four-hour room service and the
concierge sucks up harder than an OreckI suggest
the Ritz-Carlton
"Both? Melinda won't be able to-"
He took a last bite of his lasagna and put it
aside"You ain't looking at this straight,
muchacho, but Wireman, grateful bastard that he
is-"
"You've got nothing to be grateful for yet-"
" - will set you vuitton gold bag straightBecause I can't stand
to see a bunch of needless worries steal away your
happinessAnd Jesus-Krispies, you should be happy
Do you know how many people there are on the west
coast of Florida who'd kill for a show on Palm
Avenue?"
478
"Wireman, did you just say Jesus-Krispies?"
"Don't change the subject
"They haven't exactly offered me a show yetThey ain't bringing a sample contract
out here to the willi-wags just for shits and
gigglesAre you listening?"
"Sure
"Once this show is scheduled - and it will be -
you're going to do what any artist new on the
scene would be expected to do: publicity
Interviews, starting with Mary Ire and going on
from there chanel purses and handbags to the newspapers and Channel 6If
they want to play up your missing arm, so much the
better He did the framing thing with his hands
again"Edgar Freemantle Bursts Upon the Suncoast
Art Scene Like a Phoenix from the Smoking Ashes of
Tragedy!"
"Smoke this, amigo," I said, and gripped my crotch
But I couldn't help smiling
Wireman took no notice of my vulgarity"That missing brazo of yours gonna be
golden
"Wireman, you are one cynical mongrel
479
He took this for the compliment it sort of wasHe
nodded and waved it aside magnanimously"I'll
serve as your lawyerYou're going to pick the
paintings; Nannuzzi consultsNannuzzi sets the
show arrangement; you prada china consu

I remember my
concentration being fined down to a brilliant cone,
the way it sometimes was in the early days of my
business, when every building (every bid, really)
was make or breakI remember clamping a pencil in
my mouth once again at some point, so I could
scratch at the arm that wasn't there; I was always
forgetting the lost part of meWhen distracted
and carrying something in my left hand, I
sometimes reached out with my right one to open a
111
doorAmputees forget, that's allTheir minds
forget and as they heal, their bodies let them
What I mostly remember about that evening is the
wonderful, blissful sensation of having caught an
actual bolt of lightning in a bottle for three or
four minutesBy then the room had begun to dim
out, the shadows seeming to swim forward over the
rose-colored carpet toward the fading rectangle of
the picture windowEven with the last light
striking across my easel, I couldn't get a good
look at what I'd doneI got up, limped around see by chloe bag the
treadmill to the switch by the door, and flipped
on the overheadThen I went back, turned the
easel, and caught my breath
The sophora bracelet seemed to rear over the
horizon-line like the tentacle of a sea creature
big enough to swallow a supertankerThe single
yellow blossom could have been an alien eyeMore
important to me, it had somehow given the sunset
back the truth of its ordinary I-do-this-everynight
beauty
That picture I set asideThen I went downstairs,
microwaved a Hungry Man fried chicken dinner, and
ate it right down to the bottom of the box
112
v
The following night I lined the sunset with
bundles of witchgrass, and the brilliant orange
shining through the green turned the horizon into
a forest fireThe night after that I tried palm
trees, but that was no good, that one was another
clich?, I could almost see hula-hula girls and
hear ukes strummingNext I put a big old conch
shell on the horizon with the sunset firing off
around it like a corona, and cartier pasha watch the result was - to
me, at least - almost unbearably creepyThat one
I turned to the wall, thinking when I looked at it
the next day it would have lost its magic, but it
hadn't
I snapped a picture of it with my digital camera,
and attached it to an e-mailIt prompted the
following exchange, which I printed out and stowed
in a folder:
EFree19 to KamenDoc
10:14 AM
December 9
113
Kamen: I told you I was drawing pictures again
This is your fault, so the least you can do is
look at the attached and tell me what you think
The view is from my place down hereDo not spare
my feelings
Edgar
KamenDoc to EFree19
12:09 PM
December 9
Edgar: I think you are getting betterIn truth the picture is amazingLike an
undiscovered Dal?You have clearly found
somethingHow big is it?
EFree19 to KamenDoc
1:13 PM
December 9
114
Don't know
EF
KamenDoc to EFree19
1:22 P
M December 9
Then MINE IT!
Kamen
Two days later, when Jack came by to ask if I
wanted to run errands, I said I china mulberry wanted to go to a
bookstore and buy a book of Salman Dal?'s art"I think you mean Salvador Dal?," he
said"Unless you're thinking about the guy who
wrote the book that got him in so much hot water
I can't remember the name of it
"The Satanic Verses," I said at onceThe mind's a
funny monkey, isn't it?
When I got back with my book of prints - it cost a
staggering one hundred and nineteen dollars, even
with my Barnes

Each of them brooded, alone with his thoughts

By nightfall, Brown and Stanley, Ridges and Goldstein were left with WilsonThe extra litter-bearers had turned back an hour before dark, and Brown, after progressing a half mile farther, had decided to halt for the nightThey settled in a tiny grove just below the saddle of two small hills, spread out their blankets in a circle around Wilson, and lay talking drowsilyDarkness came, and in the wood it was very darkAgreeably tired, it was pleasant to curl into their bedding
The night wind was cool, rustling the leaves in the treesIt suggested rain, and the men mused idly of summer nights when they had sat on their porches at sundown, watching the rain clouds gather, feeling at ease because they were under coverThe idea set off a long stream chanel quilted bags of wistful recollections, of summer and the sounds of dance music on Saturday nights, the rapt air and the smell of foliageIt made them feel rich and mellowThey thought of things they had forgotten for months: the excitement of driving a car on a country road, the headlights painting a golden cylinder through the leaves; the tenderness and heat of love on a breathless nightThey burrowed more deeply into their blankets
Wilson was becoming conscious againHe floated upward from one cloud of pain to another, groaning and mumbling unintelligiblyHis belly ached terribly, and he made feeble efforts to draw his knees up to his chestIt felt as if someone were binding his ankles, and he wrenched himself into wakefulness, the sweat pocking his face
"Leggo of them, leggo of them, y' goddam louis vuitton white speedy sonofabitch, lea' my legs alone
He swore very loudly, and the men started from their reveriesBrown leaned over him, daubing the moistened end of his handkerchief over Wilson's lips"Take it easy, Wilson," he said softly"You got to keep quiet, boy, or you'll be stirrin' up the Japs
"Leggo, goddammit!" Wilson bawledThe shout exhausted him and he fell back on the stretcherDimly he felt himself bleeding again, and he drifted along the impressions it aroused, uncertain if he was swimming or if he had wet his pants"Went and pissed in them," he mumbled, waiting for the hand to slap him"Woodrow Wilson, you're a little ol' slob," some woman's voice was sayingHe giggled, shying away from the blow"Aw, Mommy, didn't mean to He yelled the words, pleading, twitching on the stretcher as if avoiding a dior rasta cuff
"Wilson, you got to keep quiet Brown massaged his temples"Just relax, boy, we're gonna take care of ya Wilson dribbled a little blood out of his mouth and lay motionless, feeling it dry on his chinListen, boy, you got to keep quiet on account of the Japs But the words corroded his stupor, and left him afraidHe was sinking again in the tall grass of the field, waiting for the Japanese to find him, and he began to blubber softly without realizing it, as if his weeping came from an excreta of his nervesOnly he could feel the blood pulsing out of his belly, trickling, searching for new stream beds along the muscular ravines of his groin to end at last in a pool between his thighsHe knew it; as if he had sight in his belly he formed an image of roiled and twisted flesh, curling about itself, coco chanel handbags writhingIt kept squeezing the blood out
"Looks like a pussy," he heard himself murmuring, only the words sounded with a roar
"Wilson, you got to shut up
The fear lapsed, became a vague disquiet, lulled by Brown's handThis time, Wilson really whispered"One damn thing Ah cain't figger outTwo in bed and wake up three, two in bed an' wake up three He repeated it like a jingle"What t'hell's one got to do with t'other; you jus' do your screwin' an' it comes out a kid He wrinkled his face, partially from pain, and then relaxed again, sinking into the sensual fetid memories of a woman over himThen the image blurred, and his vision faded into a series of concentric circles boring into his head with the delirium of etherWhen they done op-per-rated on ya, an' ya got a hole in ya, y' cain't go to gucci boston bag sle