I thought of a number
He was silent for a... I thought of a number
He was silent for a moment, looking out at the
GulfThen he said, "Nine?"
"Nope He drummed his fingers against
his chest for a few moments, then dropped them
into his lap"Yesterday I could have told youMy telepathy thing - that little
twinkle - is goneIt's more than a fair trade
Wireman is as Wireman was, and Wireman says muchas
gracias
"What's your point? Or did you have one?"
"I didThe point is you're not going crazy, if
that's what you're afraid ofOn Duma Key, broken
people seem to be special peopleWhen they cease
being broken, they cease being
tiffany jewelry us specialYou're still broken, so you're still
special
"I'm not sure what you're getting at
533
"Because you're trying to make a simple thing hard
Look in front of you, muchacho, what do you see?"
"The GulfWhat you call the caldo largo
"And what do you spend most of your time
painting?"
"The Gulf
"And what is painting?"
"Painting is seeing, I guessAnd what is seeing on Duma
Key?"
Feeling like a child reciting a lesson of which
he's not quite sure, I said: "Special seeing?"
"YesSo what do you think, Edgar? Were those dead
girls there last night or not?"
I felt a chill up my backI
chanel bags online think you saw the ghosts of
her sisters
"I'm frightened of them I said this in a low
voiceI don't think ghosts can hurt people
"Maybe not ordinary people in an ordinary place,"
I said
He nodded, rather reluctantlySo what
do you want to do?"
534
"What I don't want to do is leaveI'm not done
here yet
I wasn't just thinking of the show - the bubble
reputationI just didn't know
what the more wasIf I'd attempted
putting it into words, it would have come out
sounding stupid, like something written on a
fortune cookieSomething with the word fate in it
"Do you want to come down
balenciaga the day bag here to the Palacio?
Move in with us?"
"No I thought that might make matters even worse,
somehowAnd besides, Big Pink was my placeI had
fallen in love with it"But Wireman, will you see
how much you can find out about the Eastlake
family in general and those two girls in
particular? If you can read again, then maybe you
could dig around on the Internet-"
He gripped my arm"I'll dig like a motherfucker
Maybe you could do some good in that direction, as
wellYou're going to do an interview with Mary
Ire, right?"
"YesThey've scheduled it for the week after my
so-called
rolex uk lecture
535
"Ask her about the EastlakesMaybe you'll hit the
jackpotMiss Eastlake was a big patron of the
arts in her time
He grasped the handles of the sleeping old woman's
wheelchair and turned it around so it faced the
orange roofs of the estate house again"Now let's
go look at my portraitI want to see what I
looked like back when I still thought Jerry Garcia
could save the world
ii
I'd parked my car in the courtyard, beside
Elizabeth Eastlake's silver Vietnam War-era
Mercedes-BenzI slid the portrait from my much
humbler Chevrolet, set it on end, and held it up
for Wireman to look
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