Страница 27 из 55
“No.”
He smiled, took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes. “Good. I’ve been to a hundred of these things. They’re all the same. If I hear another son of a bitch go on about brushstrokes, I’ll stick a gun in my mouth and blow my fucking brains out.” He sipped his drink, put his glasses back on.
“Uh-huh.” Co
Pear-shaped Guy filled it again. “Did you ever notice how nobody has to know anything to have an opinion about art? Music too. Simply by virtue of having eyes and ears, anyone at all can spout off about art or music or literature or anything. Half the people out there haven’t given art two seconds of thought before tonight. They’ve never been to art school or studied in Paris or picked up a book about art or subscribed to any art magazines. As soon as they get a few little paintings in front of them, they’re more than ready to say why it’s good or bad or significant or worthless. Shit.”
He drank his drink. Co
“You’re not too talkative. Bad night?” asked Pear-shaped Guy.
“I don’t know,” Co
“Girl trouble?”
“How did you know?”
He shrugged. “That’s the only kind of real trouble when you get down to it.”
“I’m broke too.”
“Small potatoes,” said Pear-shape. “I never know where my next dollar’s coming from. One day I’m rolling in it, the next I’m stealing Scotch from a giant, pretentious globe.”
“Are you a stockbroker or something? I could use a hot tip.”
“Not quite, but this advice works for anything. You have to visualize your goal, decide you’re not going to be a bottom-feeder anymore. Set specific goals with specific, definable steps. Tackle each step one at a time. Sounds too simple, but it really does work.”
“And this will solve my girl trouble?” Co
“Jesus, no. You’re not listening. Women are an unsolvable problem. Be nice to them, and maybe they’ll deign to put out. That’s about all you can do. For everything else: visualize.”
“My guts hurt,” Co
“Visualize the pain floating away as a bright orange balloon.”
Co
All that booze on an empty, nervous stomach. He hadn’t even eaten the pigs in the blankets.
He cleaned himself up. Flushed.
He reached down to pull up his pants and pitched forward, toppling off the toilet and landing in a tangled heap on the floor. The room spun. He took deep breaths until everything fell back into place. Visualize standing up.
He braced himself against the tub, lurched to his feet. Visualize pulling up your pants. He did it, zipped himself. He leaned against the sink, looked at himself in the mirror. Co
He splashed water on his face, toweled off, and left the bathroom.
Co
They scowled at him, eyes tough and offended. She had a nose ring and a butterfly tattoo on her back. He was shaggy-haired. White socks. A couple of Professor Dan’s students, Co
Co
Visualize a major crime.
He ran to the three Dybeks, pushed the velvet rope aside, grabbed each one off its easel, and sprinted back to the window. He reached out with one of the paintings, leaned as far as he could without tumbling out the window. It was still a good five feet to the ground. He didn’t want the painting to land hard and crack the frame into pieces. He thought about tossing them into the bushes to ease the landing, but he didn’t want the rose thorns to rip the canvas.
Maybe he could climb out the window, then reach back through for the paintings. He bit his lip, tried to judge the distance. It was a little too far down. He wouldn’t be able to reach them.
Co
“Go ahead and climb out,” a voice behind him said. “Then I’ll hand them down to you.”
Co
“Go on out. Be careful. Don’t turn an ankle.” He took the painting from beneath Co
“Uh… okay.” Co
“Go ahead.” Pear-shape nodded encouragement.
Co
“You all set?”
Co
“Okay, good luck. Don’t take any wooden Injuns.” Pear-shape’s head vanished back through the window.
“Wait!” Co
Pear-shape stuck his head out again. “Yeah?”
“You don’t seem to mind I’m stealing these paintings.”
“Nope.”
Co
The guy laughed. “I am Jasper Dybek.”
Co
“An obscene amount,” he said. “But I only manage to unload two or three a year. It’s not exactly a steady paycheck. If you steal them, I can collect the insurance. Now get moving. In about twenty minutes, I’m going to raise holy hell.” He ducked back inside and shut the window.
Co
“I’m taking these out to be cleaned,” Co
“What? Huh?” The kid’s eyes were red and glassy, and Co
“Keep up the good work,” Co
The kid gri
Co
The kid shrugged, popped one into his mouth.
Co