unforum

[phensley]

email from Phyllis re: the doyles...you gotta love it

[dmax]

That's great! Reminds me of a glossary/dictionary that I was REALLY given when I started working in New Orleans. Included a LOT of stuff that isn't appropriate for polite conversation, and also things like
"jeet?" (Did you eat). Wish I could dig it up. Then we could pass it on to her to get her through such an uncomfortable setting...

[Barbarellany]

And another from Phyllis, now she reveals the hidden painting.


Dear Barbara,

It's good to share with someone who understands the Douglas-types in
this
world. It has already been suggested to me that the burglary was an
"inside
job" so this doesn't hurt my feelings at all. Once the suggestion was
made, I
could easily look back upon the signs of his jealous resentment towards
my
fascination with the items I found in the trunk. It was such a mystery!
I was
obsessed with it, almost compelled by my fascination for the manuscript
page,
the paintings and the notes that came with them.

I've consulted with a lawyer not only about getting a divorce but to be
sure
that I won't be complicit in any kind of insurance scam. I don't know
for a
fact that Douglas had a hand in it – I have no evidence. But the
manuscript
page and the painting were not common property; he had no legal right
to do it,
if he did arrange the burglary. Again, let me emphasize that I have no
proof.
Like you, and others, I only have a woman's intuition.

The idea that the painting might be hidden in the house really got my
mind
spinning. Unfortunately, Douglas has been home most of the weekend
since I read
your email. He's been in his office with the door shut but, I still
didn't feel
entirely safe browsing around the attic and shuffling through the
garage. I
need to do some snooping anyway so tomorrow, when he's gone, I'll check
every
nook and cranny. I really miss the painting more than the manuscript
page...

You ask, "Just what was your level of interest in the 'hidden'
painting?" It's
very hard for me to put an answer into words. I am not a "fan" of Sarah
Wyatt's
work; her style is a bit too rough and folksy for my taste. She lacked
discipline and my perception of her was based on how she was when we
came to
town. By that point, she wasn't very functional; she was drifting into
the fog
of a dementia that eventually swallowed her whole. I gathered from her
notes
that she thought she was creating some kind of masterwork on the walls
of this
house. But, it wasn't. It was scribbles of nonsense, doodles of
half-rendered
forms. Even putting aside my own personal tastes, I saw no merit in it.
But,
she THOUGHT she was creating something grand and reading her notes made
me weep
for the sheer waste of it all. What if she HAD been properly trained,
what if
she HAD had the security and stability of mind to fully realize her
talents,
what COULD she have been!

And, that painting. It is a self-portrait of Sarah as a young girl
beside a
tall, dark-haired man with piercing, penetrating eyes. Perhaps, she
rendered it
from an old photograph, I don't know. I don't recognize the man; it is
not
Hamilton, her adoptive father. This man is distinguished, intelligent;
Hamilton
was not. The setting is no room in this house. It is somewhere else,
before she
came to this town, perhaps. There was some kind of symbol in the
background, a
flag, a banner; I could never make sense of it. I felt – without any
evidence
at all – that the man was her father. Something in the posture,
something in
the arrangement of the figures, suggested the bond that daughters have
for the
first and most important man in their lives. I know this will sound
silly but,
I fell a little bit in love with the man in that painting. Maybe I
identified
with her feelings for him. Father was tall, dark-haired and intense. So
is
Douglas, for that matter. I guess he was my "type" and I was so wrapped
up in
the mystery of it all that I was taken up in a romantic fantasy. Oh,
and he was
safe, wasn't he? Locked up in a painted memory, he would never bully me
or find
fault or dominate me. I wonder if Douglas saw me one day, stroking the
cheek of
that painted image. If so, then I fear for the life of that painting.
It may
not be hidden or sold; it may be gone, destroyed, like the girl and the
man in
it.

I am well and safe as I can be under the circumstances. The paranormal
investigator is coming this week and I have great hopes for psychic
cleansing
on multiple levels. I'll keep you informed.

With fondness,
Phyllis



Quoting Barbara M :

> Dear Phyllis,
> > I just wanted to check in with you to see how you are
> doing. Any change for the better with Douglas or the
> poltergeists? When is that person coming to "clear"
> your house? Could you tell me who you hired? I have a
> friend her on Long Island who has had some difficulty
> with similar activity in her house, nothing to the
> extreme of what's going on in Aglaura, but annoying
> just the same. When is he coming, or has he come
> already?
> > I've given alot of thought with regard to Douglas's
> feelings about the contents of the trunk. (I too, was
> married to a Douglas who didn't like anything to
> separate my attention from him.)
> He pushed you into "donating" many pieces. You had
> particular fascination with the manuscript and that's
> gone through theft. Just what was your level of
> interest in the "hidden" painting?
> > Now, I hate to suggest this, and I may be transposing
> some things that happened to me (including my Douglas
> taking all my family Christmas decorations that had
> been passed down for generations to the dump when he
> claimed the old dresser I kept them in was junk and
> salvageable because some of the drawers stuck),nor do
> I want you to lose the insurance money which is
> probably your escape route, but...
> I think your Douglas may have had a hand in the
> disappearance of the manuscript and painting. There, I
> said it and I hope I haven't hurt you with such an
> accusation. The reason I say it, is that if this is
> true it is possible the painting is still around
> somewhere, hidden again.
> > With the current popularity in Sarah Wyatt's work, I
> think I would have heard or seen some offering of it
> on the "underground channels" that seem to appear when
> I put out notice that I am interested in a particular
> artist or piece. I don't know what this one looks
> like, but other that being told about the library
> auction, Wes Keeler's piece and a piece shown on
> Klepsydra's web site, the collector's world has been
> silent on Sarah's available work. I continue to put
> feelers out, but nothing.
> > Does Douglas have a hiding place that he doesn't think
> you know about? Men tend to be such poor "hiders" when
> compared to women. They just don't realize good
> housekeeping requires periodically going into the
> dusty corners and looking into old boxes to see what
> is no longer needed or the house would crash to the
> ground from the weight of the junk. Wives and mothers
> tend to just let their boys think they have their
> secrets, lol.
> > Well, I don't want to take up too much of your time.
> Be safe and be well.
> > Fondly,
> Barbara