It's not much, thoughWouldn't you rather have...
It's not much,
thoughWouldn't you rather have one of
Freemantle's Famous Sunsets? Or the mailbox with
the rocking horse! I could-"
"This is the one I want," she said"It's funny
and sweet and even a littleYou look at her one way and you say, 'A
doll' You look another way and say, 'No, a little
girl - after all, isn't she standing up?' It's
amazing how much you've learned to do with colored
pencils She nodded decisively"This is the one
I wantOnly you have to name itArtists have to
name their pictures
"I agree, but I wouldn't have any idea-"
"Come on, come on, replica rolex no weaselingFirst thing to
pop into your mind
I said, "All right - The End of the Game
She clapped her handsPerfect! And you
have to sign it, tooAin't I bossy?"
171
"You always were," I saidYou must
be feeling betterAre you?"
"Yes," I said, but I wasn'tAll at once I had a
bad case of the mean redsVenus doesn't make that
color, but there was a new, nicely sharpened Venus
Black in the gutter of the easelI picked it up
and signed my name by one of back-to doll's pink
legsBeyond her, a dozen wrong-green tennis balls
floated on a mild waveI didn't know what rolex air king automatic watch those
rogue balls meant, but I didn't like themI
didn't like signing my name to this picture,
either, but after I had, I jotted The End of the
Game up one sideAnd what I felt was what Pam had
taught the girls to say when they were little, and
had finished some unpleasant chore
xvi
She stayed two more days, and they were good days
When Jack and I took her back to the airport,
she'd gotten some sun on her face and arms and
172
seemed to give off her own benevolent radiation:
youth, health, well-being
Jack had found a travel-tube for her new picture
"Daddy, promise louis vuitton mahina you'll take care of yourself and
call if you need me," she said
"Roger that," I said, smiling
"And promise me you'll get someone to give you an
opinion on your picturesSomeone who knows about
that stuff
"Well-"
She lowered her chin and frowned at meWhen she
did that it was again like looking at Pam when I'd
first met her"You better promise, or else
And because she meant it - the vertical line
between her eyebrows said so - I promised
The line smoothed out"Good, that's settledYou
deserve to get better, you knowSometimes I
wonder if you really believe that
"Of louis vuitton bag sale course I do," I said
Ilse went on as if she hadn't heard"Because what
happened wasn't your fault
I felt tears well up at thatI suppose I did know,
but it was nice to hear someone else say it out
loudSomeone besides Kamen, that is, whose job it
173
was to scrape caked-on grime off those troublesome
unwashed pots in the sinks of the subconscious"You are going to get betterI
say so, and I'm tres bossy
The loudspeaker honked: Delta flight 559, service
to Cincinnati and ClevelandThe first leg of
Ilse's trip home
"Go on, hon, better let em wand your bod and check
your chanel bucket bags sh