2 Landscape in Scarlet Read Free

rn and dusty drapes of faded red velvet that must have come from some old theater. The puppet was dressed in a yellowed Christening gown and swaddled from the waist down in old flannel blankets. Juliet found this piece to be particularly gruesome, a baby plucked from the grave and strung up with wires , but then that was probably the point of ambushing people with it as they came through the door. It was almost Halloween. They wanted to be scared and horrified and maybe even disgusted .
    “Juliet,” Raphael said, and she warmed at the sound of his voice , seeking him in the dim light. The painting s on the battered wall were lit, but the floor was not . The y were trying for a kind of haunted house motif and achieving it . “Have you come to see if I’ve accurately preserved your image for posterity?”
    Raphael sometimes used her as a model when he was doing matriarchs of the Bible.
    “I wouldn’t dare utter a word of protest even if you gave me a mustache ,” she said , turning and walking toward him. He spun his wheelchair to face her.
    And she truly didn’t want to protest . Raphael always managed to paint her as if she were lit by divine fire and surrounded by the heavenly host singing paeans of joy . He never made her feel — on canvas or in the flesh — that she had been catalogued in his mind as middle aged, middle talent , or middling boring. Even if it was all probably true. She was sure that in real life she had never looked so luminous or wise .
    The painting on display on the withered wood wall wasn’t one of her favorites though , being it was of John the Baptist’s head being offered up to Salome. Juliet was painted in as the mother, Herodias, not the infamous dancing girl , and she looked great for being married to a tyrant — but it was still one of her least-liked Bible stories and canvases .
    The painting was for display, not sale , and had a small NFS card on it . Its new home would be in a church in San Francisco where it was headed on St. John’s feast day. Raphael had two others for sale though, smaller pieces, that flanked the canvas with the severed head. Juliet was in neither.
    Next to Raphael’s painting was a medium - size work that Juliet recognized as belong ing to Asher Temple. It was a mass of angry reds that somehow suggested a stream at sunset. It was called “ Landscape in Scarlet. ” As usual, she liked the frame more than the canvas in it . Asher’s mother did wonderful work.
    “Oh good!” Juliet said, seeing that one of Elizabeth Temple’s quilts was hung on the wall. When Elizabeth wasn’t carving frames for her son, she made quilts out of tiny dots of fabrics that ended up looking like they had been worked by Monet. Usually she resisted exhibiting, but had probably given in because the festival was so important to the town and she knew where her civic duty lay.
    “I’m thinking of buying it,” Raphael said. “I don’t have any of her work and this one is exceptional. It looks like the autumn woods after a storm.”
    “It’s magnificent.” Juliet could say this without the slightest t w inge of envy. Along with eschewing worry and caffeine, she wasted no time or energy on jealousy. She was happy that Elizabeth was talented and that Raphael had the money to buy her quilt.
    This was one of the many things that the reserved Raphael liked about her, though he never mentioned it to her after the first time . Juliet was not at ease with praise.
    “Have you tried the deep - fried Twinkies yet?” she asked.
    “I have not.” Raphael sounded so revolted that she had to laugh. “I was considering a visit to the Soup Kitchen for lunch . They have curry-pumpkin soup that may be edible .”
    “That sounds nice. I noticed that m ost of the restaurants are offering special dishes this weekend.”
    “Then let’s leave. We can be the first customers.”
    “You’re done here?” she asked.
    “Esteban did an excellent job of arranging things . I showed up to approve