FIVE AND ONE HALF - Chapter 15

WE ARE GOING TO A PARTY !!

Josh came in and said, “Put on a nice party dress. We are going to a party at Morley’s house.

He asked me about the incident the other day. I said it was just a misunderstanding but we worked it out.  He told me he had that fellow transferred out of here because he was nothing but trouble.”

That evening there were a lot of the key men in the company present with their wives.

When we arrived they were standing looking at Lesley’s painting. The women took Lesley in the other room commenting on how pretty she was.

Morley’s wife said, “My husband says nice things about your husband and you must be proud of him. You make a nice couple together.”

One of the ladies said, “Yes you are about the same height.”

Lesley said, “Almost the same but I’m a half inch taller.”

The lady said, “Oh, that’s nice.”

As the party progressed the people mingled and Morley said, “You know when I first saw this painting of Lesley I was so taken by it that I had to have it, but somehow it seems to have lost it’s luster. It is still a picture of a beautiful woman but I don’t know; it just doesn’t have the same effect now when I look at it.”

“Well the reason is because it isn’t the portrait I painted. It is a copy.  I saw it the minute I entered the room.”

As anger rose up in Morley he said, “Do you mean he pulled a fast one on me?”

I said, “No he wouldn’t do that but something is going on and I think we should find out what happened.”

Morley said, “I will be on it tomorrow.”

The next morning he called Charles, Lesley’s father and lit into him with a litany of threats all the while Charles was dumbfound not knowing what to say.  

Charles explained that he knew the painting he had was a copy but couldn’t believe that the one Morley had was also a copy.  He went on to say that he wanted a copy of the picture for his office wall so he loaned it to a well known artist with the instructions to make a copy for me.

After further discussion they finally figured it out that the other artist painted more than one and sent a copy to Morley, keeping the original.

Charles said, “I knew something was missing but thought it was just not as good a job as Josh had done.”  

Charles said he would straighten it out and hire a detective to find the painter.

A week later the detective said he found the guy. They called the police and raided his home.

 

In a hidden room there the picture hung with lights illuminating it.

 

There was a comfortable chair directly in front of it where one could have the best view of the lovely woman.

In his studio there were several copies he made and he was trying to sell them. He billed them as the most beautiful woman in the world.

The police brought the original painting to me and asked if it was the real one and I confirmed that it was.

The picture didn’t excite me as much as when I first painted it and I wondered why.

On the way home it struck me; the reason was I have the woman the picture could only represent.

Yes that is it. I had the reality of what the image was trying to live up to, and for me the painting came up short.

To be Continued

 

Josh had the real woman