@@@@@The other thing is this
@@@@@The other thing is this one-hundred-andeighty-
day termination clauseIt ought to be
ninetyI don't foresee a problem there, but I
think it's interestingThey're afraid some big
New York gallery is going to swoop down and carry
you off
"Anything else about the contract I should know?"
"Nope, and I sense you want to get back to work
I'll get in touch with MrYoshida about these
changes
"Any change in your vision?"
"No, amigoWish I could say there wasBut you
keep painting
I was taking the phone away from my ear when he
said, "Did you happen to see the news this
morning?"
506
"No, never turned it onWhy?"
"County coroner says Candy Brown died of
congestive heart failureJust thought you'd like
to knowIt was a slow go but far from a no go
Wireman swam into existence around the window
where his brain swam on the GulfIt was a younger
Wireman than the one in the photos clipped to the
sides of my easel, but that was okay; I consulted
them less and less, and on the third day I took
them down altogetherI didn't need them anymore
Still, I painted the way I supposed most other
artists painted: as if it were a job instead of
some speed-trip insanity that came and went in
spasmsI did it with the radio on, now always
tuned to The Bone
On the fourth day, Wireman brought me a revised
contract and told me I could signHe said
Nannuzzi wanted to photograph my paintings and
make slides for a lecture at the Selby Library in
Sarasota in mid-March, a month before my show
507
openedThe lecture, Wireman said, would be
attended by sixty or seventy art patrons from the
Tampa-Sarasota areaI told him fine and signed
the contract
Dario came out that afternoonI was impatient for
him to click his pix and be gone so I could go
back to w