yanti877wan

@@@@@ "You didn't get that picture from Ilse," I saidPam found it in one of her old photo albums All at once everything made sense "How many times have you talked to her, Jerome?" He winced"That hurts, but maybe you have a right Probably half a dozen timesI started by telling her you were getting yourself in a jam down here, 550 and that you were taking a lot of other people with you-" "What the fuck!" I cried, stung "People who'd invested a lot of hope and trust in you, not to mention money-" "I'm perfectly capable of refunding any money the people at the Scoto may have laid out on-" "Shut up," he said, and I had never heard such coldness in his voiceOr seen it in his eyes "You ain't an asshole, muchacho, so don't act like oneCan you refund their trust? Can you refund their prestige, if the great new artist they've promised their customers doesn't materialize for either the lecture or the show?" "Wireman, I can do the show, it's just the goddam lecture-" "They don't know that!" he shoutedHe had a hell of a shouting voice on him, a real courtroom bellowElizabeth took no notice, but peeps took off from the water's edge in a brown sheet"They have this funny idea that maybe on April fifteenth you'll be a no-show, or that you'll yank your stuff altogether and they'll have a bunch of empty rooms during the tenderloin of the tourist season, 551 when they're used to doing a third of their yearly business "They have no reason to think that," I said, but my face was throbbing like a hot brick "No? How did you think about this kind of behavior in your other life, amigo? What conclusions did you draw about a supplier who contracted for cement and then didn't show up on the dime? Or a plumbing sub who got the job on a new bank and wasn't there on the day he was supposed to start? Did you feel real, I dunno, confident about guys like that? Did you believe their excuses?" I said nothing "Dario sends you e-mails asking for decisions, he gets no answerHe and the others call on the phone and get vague replies like 'I'll think about it' This would make them nervous if you were Jamie Wyeth or Dale Chihuly, and you're not Basically you're just some guy who walked in off the streetSo they call me, and I do the best I can - I'm your fuckin agent, after all - but I'm no artist, and neither are they, not reallyWe're like a bunch of cab-drivers trying to deliver a baby 552 "I get it," I said"You say it's just stage fright about the lecture and you're going to go through with the showI'm sure part of you believes that, but amigo, I gotta say that I think part of you has no intention of showing up at the Scoto Gallery on April fifteenth