amphiine_98

@@@@@I hardly noticed either oneI was looking at the framed sketch on the wall above the shelves of CDs, and for a few seconds I forgot to breathe The sketch was just pencil, augmented by two scarlet threads, probably added with nothing more than a plain red ballpoint pen - the kind teachers 267 use to grade papersThese not-quite-offhand scribbles had been laid along the horizon-line of the Gulf to indicate sunset They were genius writ smallIt was my horizon, the one I saw from Little PinkI knew that just as I knew the artist had been listening to the shells grind steadily beneath him as he turned blank white paper into what his eye saw and his mind translatedOn the horizon was a ship, probably a tankerIt could have been the very one I'd drawn my first evening at Number 13 Duma Key RoadThe style was nothing at all like mine, but the choice of subject-matter was damn near identical Scribbled almost carelessly at the bottom: Salv Dal? iv Miss Eastlake - Elizabeth - had her cigarette while Oprah questioned Kirstie Alley on the always fascinating subject of weight-lossWireman produced egg salad sandwiches, which were deliciousMy eyes kept straying to the framed 268 Dal? sketch, and I kept thinking - of course - Hello, Dal?Phil came on and began berating a couple of fat ladies in the audience who had apparently volunteered to be berated, I told Wireman and Elizabeth that I really ought to be getting back Elizabeth used the remote to silence DrPhil, then held out the book the remote had been sitting onHer eyes looked both humble and hopeful "Wireman says you'll come and read to me on some afternoons, Edmund, is that true?" We're forced to make some decisions in a split second, and I made one thenI decided not to look at Wireman, who was sitting to Elizabeth's left The acuity she'd exhibited at her play-table was fading, even I could see that, but I thought there was still quite a lot leftA glance in Wireman's direction would be enough to tell her that this was news to me, and she'd be embarrassedI didn't want her to be embarrassed, partly because I liked her and partly because I suspected life would hold a great many embarrassments for her in the year or two aheadIt would soon be more than forgetting names 269 "We've discussed it," I said