Thinking I'd like to sign as soon
as possible no... Thinking I'd like to sign as soon
as possible no matter what Wireman thought of the
492
contract, just to get these pictures off the Key
and it wasn't fire I was worried aboutUnbottling
might be fairly common among artists who began
later in life, but forty-one paintings on Duma Key
were at least three dozen too manyI could feel
their live presence in this room, like electricity
in a bell jar
Of course, Dario and Jimmy felt it, tooThat was
part of what made those fucking pictures so
effective
xiii
I joined Wireman and Elizabeth for coffee at the
end of El Palacio's boardwalk the next morningI
was down to nothing but aspirin to get going, and
my Great Beach Walks were now a pleasure
chanel jewelry instead
of a challengeEspecially since the weather had
warmed up
Elizabeth was in her wheelchair with the remains
of a breakfast pastry scattered across her tray
It looked to me as if he'd also managed to get
some juice and half a cup of coffee into herShe
was staring out at the Gulf with an expression of
493
stern disapproval, looking this morning more like
Captain Bligh of HMS Bounty than a Mafia don's
daughter
"Buenos días, mi amigo," Wireman saidAnd to
Elizabeth: "It's Edgar, Miss EastlakeWant to say hello?"
"Piss shit head rat," she saidIn any
case, she said it to the Gulf, which was still
dark blue and mostly asleep
"Still not so good, I take it," I saidShe's gone down before and come back up,
gold gucci watches but
she's never gone down so far
"I still haven't brought her any of my pictures to
look at
"No point right now He handed me a cup of black
coffeeGet your bad self around this
I passed him the envelope with the sample contract
in itAs Wireman pulled it out, I turned to
Elizabeth"Would you like some poems later
today?" I asked herShe only looked out at the Gulf with that
stony frown: Captain Bligh about to order someone
strapped to the foremast and flogged raw
494
For no reason at all, I asked: "Was your father a
skin diver, Elizabeth?"
She turned her head slightly and cut her ancient
eyes in my directionHer upper lip lifted in a
dog's grinThere was a moment - it was brief, but
seemed long -
tiffany and co earrings when I felt another person looking
at meOr not a person at allAn entity that was
wearing Elizabeth Eastlake's old, doughy body like
a sockMy right hand clenched briefly, and once
more I felt nonexistent, too-long fingernails bite
into a nonexistent palmThen she looked back at
the Gulf, simultaneously feeling across the tray
until her fingers happened on a piece of the
breakfast pastry, and I was calling myself an
idiot who had to stop letting his nerves get the
best of himThere were undoubtedly strange forces
at work here, but not every shadow was a ghost
"He was," Wireman said absently, unfolding the
contract"John Eastlake was a regular Ricou
Browning - you know, the guy who played the
Creature
prada knock offs from the Black Lagoon back in the
fifties
"Wireman, you're an artesian well of useless
information
495
"Yeah, ain't I cool? Her old man didn't buy that
harpoon pistol in a store, you know; Miss Eastlake
says he had it commissionedIt probably ought to
be in a museum
But I didn't care about John Eastlake's harpoon
gun, not just then"Are you reading that
contract?"
He dropped it on the tray and looked at me,
bemused
"And your left eye?"
"NothingBut hey, no reason to be disappointed
The doctor said-"
"Do me a favorCover your left peeper
"What do you see?"
"You, Edgar"Now I just see black He dropped his hand again
"I can't tell for sureThese days I can't
separate the truth from the wishful
omega speedmaster leather thin