@@@@@Something with the word fate in it "Do you 129
@@@@@Something with the word fate in it
"Do you want to come down 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 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 atAs he stood there silently
regarding it, a strange thought occurred to me: I
was like a tailor standing beside a mirror in a
men's clothing storeSoon my customer would
either tell me he liked the suit I'd made for him,
or shake his head regretfully and say it wouldn't
do
536
Far off to the south, in what I was coming to
think of as the Duma Jungle, that bird took up its
warning "Oh-oh!" cry again
Finally I couldn't take it anymore"Say something,
Wireman
But when he looked up from the portrait, I
realized it was trueHe looked like someone had
walloped him on the head with a hamm
