Doors

After this: [Locked to Sam A]
Mom, I'm back from my play date.

[Phone call to Sam A]

(Caller ID reads his number)

Ring!

[Locked to Ben S]

I didn't want to assume, so I got a hotel room for the night. But. Are we still on?

[Locked to Seven M]

I get out later today.

[Phone call to Veronica H]

(After talking to Sam)

Ring!

[It's begun slowly. After three glasses of wine and some testing at the edge of a page. The brush work is slow at first. Tentative. Paint layered over paint - why here? No canvas in the house, no paper. Within three hours, close to four, the painting is amber and carmine, thick crimson and scarlet. It is slow, slow and then the wine or memory kicks in and it builds. Oil on paper.]

[Fine, trained Victorian script, but cramped and claustrophobic. Lead-black ink dries with red rinds.]

Rutledge, 25th May 18—

Settled in with all due haste. All the patients lined up in a row, like dried marigolds. Office drafty. Sugar bowl cracked. Must send for better paper. Weather fine.