If a Tree Falls: A Kurtz and Barent Mystery (Kurtz and Barent Mysteries Book 6) by Robert I. Katz

Author:Robert I. Katz [Katz, Robert I.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-09-29T22:00:00+00:00

Lenore had always been a fan of Andrew Wyeth and Edward Hopper, two realist painters whose genius, Lenore felt, lay in their ability to convey the essence of what lay under the surface of a scene without distorting the surface. Wyeth’s most famous painting was Christina’s World, which shows a seemingly young woman lying in a field of short hay or browned grass, looking at a house and barn in the distance. When Lenore had first seen the painting, she imagined the young woman to have been lying down and relaxing, perhaps taking a break after a long walk, reading a book, maybe, having just finished a picnic. Lenore had been startled to learn that the painting’s subject was fifty-five years old and suffered from a progressive polyneuropathy, probably polio. Wyeth had seen her crawling across the field.

So much for the pleasant, pastoral scene of Lenore’s imagination, and yet it was all there in the painting, if you knew how to look.

Lenore particularly liked the view of the Kurtz farmhouse from the apple orchard. She had painted it twice before, the first time in tempera on a wooden panel, the medium used by Wyeth for Christina’s World. The second time she had used oil on canvas, with the clear morning light shining on the back porch. Today, she was painting the same scene in the evening, again in oil, with streaks of golden light still shining on the side of the house, but with the porch in shadow. The three paintings made an interesting contrast.

Gary Kurtz was sitting on the porch, having an animated conversation with two men. Gary wore jeans and a flannel shirt. The other men wore suits. A pile of papers lay scattered across the table and one of the men had a leather briefcase by his side. An almost empty pitcher and three glasses of lemonade sat on the table.

Lenore liked the movement that they gave to the scene. It was too far away to clearly see their faces but Lenore had the impression that Gary was unhappy, even angry, something about his posture and the way he was leaning forward. Lenore imagined that he was having difficulty restraining himself.

Lenore smiled. This might not have been true, but it was true to Lenore, and that’s the most important thing. Truth, to an artist, was whatever made it onto the canvas. The truth of one’s imagination and the actual truth did not have to be the same.

It turned out, however, that they were the same.

“Peas, Darling?” Lisa said.

Lenore smiled at her. “Sure.” Lenore had never thought much about peas, one way or the other. They were green. They weren’t awful. You ate them to keep your mother happy. These peas, however, were fresh from the garden. They had a lot more flavor than any other peas Lenore had ever eaten. They went well with the mashed potatoes and rib-eye steak with port wine reduction.

Lisa, as usual, was smiling. Kurtz and his father were both brooding. Lenore almost laughed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.