[1st]

if you’re talking to Sylvester about African art don’t call anything an idol it drives him nuts

Sylvester’s descended from kings

so he says

walks like a king sits like a king

has king rages

what’s he so angry at

his father

ah

whose advice was go to law school so he took up art

painting sculpture what

connoisseurship

which means

art deals big money the brand package but also stupid museum labels that call everything an idol because they’ve no idea what it is

hmm

I heard he ran away from home with his best friend at age seven

ran away where

and his dad brought them back

I bet

and next day arranged for the beheading of the best friend

no shit

and he made Sylvester watch

this was in Africa

it wasn’t Winnipeg darling

you’re gossip central aren’t you

I was at one of those dinners Dave gets invited to

oh me too that’s how I met Isabelle Huppert

no

I thought I told you this

so what’s she like

she talked all the time about Jean-Paul Sartre

why

she met him

so what’s he like

she said he talked all the time about John Huston

why

Huston invited Sartre to his house to work on some movie but Marilyn Monroe cancelled so they spent two weeks in Galway alone together in the rain

how’d that go

they fell immediately and deeply in love

you’re kidding

yes I’m kidding Sartre called Huston a heap of ruins and Huston said Sartre had a face like an omelette

oh look there’s Louise

where

straight ahead of us about four rows

is that Louise oh you’re right new haircut is she still seeing that kid

I think it’s him next to her

I thought you were going to have a talk with her about that

chickened out

how much younger is he

last week he was writing her eulogy

what do you mean

she came into his room he was bent over the page really puzzling what to put in what to leave out

all those loose bloody ends

I suppose

did you ask her what they talk about the two of them

no

did you ask her if waiters make a point of saying hello madam how nice you’re out with your son today

no

should do that

you’re so judgemental

I’m just concerned for Louise

oh sure

you get that parchy tone

parchy isn’t a word

yes it is

no it isn’t

I met a parchy guy in Taos once his name was Larry Littlebird

great name

he had a bus tour business

you took a bus tour why

he looked nice I don’t know he used to hang around the hotel lobby no one else took the tour we went to different pueblos mostly I remember him telling me you live a room service life all white people are carrion

I’m seeing why no one else took the tour

after that I felt odd paying for his orange juice

why were you paying for his orange juice

we were at the pool

what’s this got to do with Louise

nothing I was just thinking about who looks down on who

whom

whom

so you fired Mr Bird

no actually after that he got to like me

part of his hustle

took me to his mother’s pueblo we talked all afternoon I still think of her sometimes it was a blazing silver afternoon

does Louise still have her dog

Philip Larkin yes

something wrong with calling a dog Philip Larkin

there’s that tone again

[2nd]

she started doing the bones when

few years ago

where’d she get bones do you know

Dave told her where to get them

can I ask her about that do you think

be careful

or the bathtubs

be careful asking

Dave says he never met a more raw person

I saw her once on TV

the cracked teeth the dyed red hair the big black Reeboks

yes and they showed her studio

I’m supposed to go there tomorrow for the interview

just her in a big studio all these objects in rows and her on a stool in the midst

doing what

working

shit

what

I’ll be interrupting the work she’ll hate me

are you scared

I’ve no idea what to say to her

say tell me about the vests Betty the bones the bathtubs

tell me about your son dying ping ping ping is this an interview she’ll hate me

on TV her hands would go up and down when they asked questions

up and down

grappling sort of

she’ll hate me

they just wasted away she said

who

I don’t know she said it a couple of times they just wasted away people just wasted away

might as well not even take my notebook

they asked about the bones and she laughs

laughs

oh the bones she says oh the bones meant something to me and she laughs or more like caws as if

as if what

as if I don’t know what

as if anybody knows how to talk about art

well there’s that

I’ll skip the bones

they say she’s kind-hearted

that makes it worse you have to drink tea and split a kind heart apart at the same time

push push push I remember she said push push push

in reference to what

some question, her working method or what’s next for you now Betty something like that

I won’t ask questions

you could just sing

sing

she’s a haunted person

why do you say that

from seeing her on TV maybe not haunted wrong word

what then

non-exempt

non-exempt from what

life

the rest of us are exempt

yes

news to me

blind deaf dumb same thing

this is your theory of art

this is my theory of her awake all night worrying about little wild animals active in the dark to which the rest of us are paying not very much attention at all

I’ll just have tea and leave

also you could ask Dave he used to know her

she was a patient of his once wasn’t she

before my time it was Darly on the desk then

who’s Darly

don’t you remember Darly, Darly was a hoot she still calls Dave now and then to give him the low-down on the man upstairs

upstairs where

Dave’s other building she says about ten every night he’s dragging a piece of heavy furniture across the floor

who Dave

not Dave the man upstairs then he drops pins or walks around in high heels or has a lot of other people walk around in high heels tap tap tap Darly’s pretty sensitive to noise

got that

you ever meet him the man upstairs Dave says to Darly no says Darly and Dave says someday you’ll meet him you’ll say what was it with all the pins he’ll say those weren’t pins and tell you some weird inside physics fact you never heard of

well you can’t help but fantasize a man upstairs