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- 07/08/2022
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
ARROW - 51. Chapter 51
Saturday the club reopened, we were back on schedule. Marcel was smart, if he served turkey, no one knew it. The buzz was Thanksgiving with family. Holidays with family always was a great time for me. It seemed that families were closer on a Holiday. For Colin and I, it was special. We had our families and most important we had each other.
Sunday morning before the club opened, we took the family and Carlo to the gallery. Carlo was surprised, I showed him a painting of him as a young man and one of him with a lamb. Our parents got lost in the village.
“Mary, I think we should take a trip this summer to Italy.” I looked at my mom, I wasn’t sure if my mom was kidding or not. John spoke right up, “That’s a great idea.”
So as they looked at the painting of the village, they were planning their trip.
Carlo wanted to know about the village. I left Colin to explain it to him. He just smiled.
Later that evening as we were sitting on the roof, “Carlo, have you traveled in Europe?”
“Not really. I’ve been to Madrid and Barcelona. My school had a trip to Madrid. My mom and dad were with me when we went to Barcelona.”
Then I listened as Colin took over. I chuckled, he would ask if they ate at this restaurant and did they see this sight. I knew we would be visiting Europe quite frequently.
The week-end after Thanksgiving, Mom and Dad went home. I gave them a few paintings for Mrs. McNiel.
Carlo left two weeks before Christmas with his painting. He knew the value of the painting he had as he had seen the opening bid on his paintings in the gallery.
During the Christmas holidays, “What do you think Armand, should we invite Tony and his wife to view the village? Maybe if he sees it he’ll change his mind.”
“You can try but I don’t think it will work.”
The day after Christmas all of the businesses were closed. Colin invited Tony and his wife to see the mural in the club and the paintings in the galleria
Arriving at the galleria, “Tony, you have those plain walls. I’m sure Armand could paint something you would like on those walls. Look at these paintings.” Colin led them to the section where my paintings were on display. I noticed Anna, his wife, looking at the painting of Carlo with the lamb. I watched as they looked at paintings of the parks at the coast, paintings of the ocean, a painting of a fishing boat and a painting of the flowers on our roof.
As Colin was talking to them, I went to the office. I knew Colin would eventually show them the village. I watched, from the office, as they approached the room with the village. Colin opened the door, turned on the light and waited. I moved to the doorway. At first Tony didn’t say anything but I heard Anna gasp.
Tony walked around stopping on occasions. He looked at Colin and he wasn’t happy. “This, is what you brought us here to see, take us home. I don’t want to see you, or him, ever in my restaurant again.”
I was shocked and I know Colin was as well. This was not the reaction we expected. Without another word, Colin drove them home.
Something didn’t seem right to me. Why would they react like that? Most people would want some token of their home being so far away.
Over the next few weeks, I thought about Tony’s and Anna’s reactions. I sketched a picture of Tony and Anna, wrote a letter to Carmella, including the drawings. Now I needed to wait for an answer.
With the holidays over, Colin went to work with his dad, I painted and took the finished paintings to the gallery. Mary always had coffee and if I timed it right, we would have lunch. I noticed there were always students there. The village became a big hit, and it showed. I saw more paintings from the students mimicking the village or rural scenes.
Mary was becoming quite popular among the college artists. They were actually selling their works of art.
GG still made her visits. On one of her visits, I thought about what she would look like as a young woman. I called Mom to send me photos of GG and photos of the past. When they came, I started to paint people in homes. I would paint a couple having dinner like a hundred years ago. I painted a couple sitting before a fireplace. Mary liked that one. She said they have a secret. That reminded me of someone else who had a secret.
Mary started to hang a few of my paintings in the main hall. She said she needed them to provide balanced. I didn’t believe her, but that was okay by me. Only I didn’t anticipated where these paintings would lead.
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Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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