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BOBBI SAID MY eyes were still flushed bloodied, so I could only walk her partway back to the house As soon as we got close to better lit areas and more people, she broke aith a smile and wave and went in to start another set I returned to the cool solitude of the garden, found our bench again, and sat down, feeling peaceful and eneral and quiet excitement over Bobbi in particular
Sounds frorounds, the usual murmur of conversation, and the piano, then Bobbi&039;s voice rose in plaintive song She was having a private joke kidding me: the tune she&039;d chosen was "Red Sails in the Sunset" When the applause settled down, Titus Noble took over with a high-pitched string number that made the inside of e; when I&039;d been a daylight walker I&039;d had no trouble with violin music For self-protection I drifted farther froes between my sensitive eardrums and the noise
Sounds of another kind soon caught my attention, low voices,to be secretive Their whispers were alularly by athered at the foot of a massive fountain where a nearly naked stone wo paper lanterns in the court gave thelanced up froaainst the fountain&039;s ish h brow puffed air into his fist, said a short prayer to Lady Luck, and tossed the dice with a practiced hand They clicked and clattered on the paveainst the loall of the fountain, and bounced to a stop The roaned, and ed, and put down for the next toss
Grinning broadly, he swept up the dice and breathed on the like love
"They&039;re hot enough, Evan," soreerin and threith an expert twist and follow-through, giving out a muted yell of triumph More rew The general opinion was that his streak couldn&039;t last another roll and the bets were down Evan went through riies into the dotted cubes Silence fell on the restive group for the few seconds it took until the dice stopped and the resulting shouts of outrage and glee were enough to travel back to the house
Just as he was collecting another rift of bills and congratulations, another rabbed the dice over Evan&039;s surprised protest They scuffled, but the losers in the gaot them apart, apparently aware there was a reason behind the breach of etiquette
"What is it, Dreyer?"
The man walked under a paper lantern and looked at the dice carefully I could al He bounced them in his palm a few times, then rolled them at the base of the fountain
"It&039;s not your turn," co to sweat
Another man examined the results of the roll, then tossed them twice more over Evan&039;s objections By now Dreyer wasn&039;t the only one growling, and Evan was facing a ring of hostile faces
"Just a little joke, boys"he said with a sick sh
Dreyer punched him in the stomach He doubled over and would have fallen if not for all the supporting hands It signaled a general free-for-all aimed at Evan and a fast scra bodies totally buried hiue cry floated up clearly froe splashed into the fountain
Until the punch in the stoood entertain After the punch I debated on just how to step in, but the splash gotbeaten to a pulp and dumped into water Cheat or not, Evan had an ally
I shoved flailing bodies out of the way to get to the fountain It was shallow, but Evan&039;s torso was underwater and destined to res up I pushed hirabbed Evan&039;s shirt and tie, and hauled him out like a drowned kitten His thin hair streamed and water sputtered messily from his nose and mouth, but he didn&039;t look ready to die yet He was just settling onto the ledge of the fountain for a coughing fit when soht shoulder and spun me round to , after all I hardlyhe had into it Noas hunched over his sore hand and glaring at ain with the one he had left
"Let it go," I told him
"He cheated," he stated flatly
I was the center of attention now and all of the with their fun There were too many for me to influence, but it didn&039;t seem necessary to try Dreyer was the leader and would be the one to convince
"So don&039;t play with hiested
"Go to hell," he snarled back
He looked ready to take another swing Froht be just drunk enough or duh to try If so, then I&039;d et it, Dreyer," soo"
A few of the more practical ones broke away to count cash, but kept a wary eye open to watch any developments Dreyer didn&039;t move
" C&039;mon, he&039;s not worth the trouble"
Dreyer see an internal debate over that point, htened fros, I caught up Evan and hustled him out of the war zone
No one followed as we threaded through the ot his breath back, but still held a hand to his sore face where a beaut was for on his left jaw
"Thanks, buddy, I owe you one They were really going to kill me"
"Just one of them-and you&039;re welcome"
"Yeah, Dreyer&039;s a real bastard Come on back to the house, I&039;ll buy you a drink"
He wasbetter to do until Bobbi was finished He knew the place and directed me around to a side entrance that opened into the kitchen It was another enorh food and utensils to serve Wrigley Field during a sellout We both winced at the bright light and bustling staff until a tubby young woman in white spotted us and carief, is that you, Mr Robley?"
"What&039;s left of him, Jannie," he shot back with a smile, and then winced at the action "Got an ice pack?"
She sighed and shook her head at the wreckage and motioned for me to drop him in a chair next to one of the sinks She found a towel and began to sop up his excess water "What happened this ti contest-"
She dropped another towel over his face and rubbed briskly, his pained protests overriding his story "Walt!" One of the white-coated waiters hustled over, grinning froe and then try and find Miss Robley" He nodded and left, no doubt happy to be the one to pass the news along
Evan fought his way out of the towel "There&039;s no need to bring Sandra into this, this is the first break she&039;s had in a nored hiainst the sore side of his face He yelped, but held it in place while she returned to direct some business on the other side of the kitchen
"Women," he moaned "They&039;re all syet into the least little bit of trouble and they automatically think it&039;s ree
"Jannie&039;s nice, though; a little bossy, but she&039;s got beautiful skin tones A little white, a touch of u ? You know-art?"
"You&039;re an artist?"
"One of the few genuine ones at this party"
Jannie returned with so them off, Mr Robley"
"What-here?"
"It&039;s warh with the stoves," she pointed out with easy practicality
"Warmth isn&039;t what I&039;m concerned about" He indicated some of the female staffers
"They knohat a man looks like, and you"This isn&039;t fair-"
She s to you on that so-called ave me, so shuck &039;em"
"That was art, this is is"
"Revenge," she concluded sweetly
Soly similar to the one we&039;d faced by the fountain I backed away, he was strictly on his own this time
"Perhaps you&039;d like some help, Mr Robley"
"No, thanks, I kno it&039;s done," he said, inspiring a burst of giggles
Gru off his coat When he wrestled free of it and his shirt he grabbed up the huge robe and belted hiathered it all together in a basket
"What about the rest?"
"My socks aren&039;t wet"
"I mean your-"
"They&039;re dry, too," he insisted grimly, and sat on the chair to preclude any attenity Jannie passed the basket on to another girl with instructions to dry things out
Walt returned, ushering in a tall young woreen satin Her russet eyes swept the room and fastened on Evan, who hunched a bit lower in his robe, looking suprearded him with amused tolerance
"I was told you&039;d had an accident," she said judicially
"Er yes, so by now "There was a roughhouse, see, and I got caught up in the middle of it, and if my friend here hadn&039;t stepped in and saved my life well"
"Oh, Evan"
"I did not throw the first punch, I swear" He held up his hand, which was hidden by half a yard of sleeve He noticed, quickly lowered it, and fastened on me as a distraction "Sandra, I&039;d like to introduce you to uh"
"Jack Fleain, and we shook briefly
"Thank you for taking care of him You&039;re not hurt?"
"Only a little dae"
"But I&039;m fine" A few shards of ice froled to free his hand from the sleeve "Evan Robley," he said tosister, of course"
" How so, famous?"
"Because a lot of artists only beconificantly
They had the saers His sandy hair was straight, hers was curly and a deep russet like her eyes She had a slender build, but the fragility was offset by her long, fir, but not unattractive
"Do you want to go home?" she asked him
"No, not at all Jannie&039;ll have o on and enjoy the party?"
"I can&039;t just leave you-"
"I&039;ll be fine" He appealed to me "Take her back to the party and make her have some fun Please?"
Her head tilted to one side in challenge Sandra wasn&039;t the type who could beshe didn&039;t want She noted my hesitation with amusement and suddenly smiled in approval Sometimes my easy-to-read face could be an asset
"Stay out of trouble?" she told him
"Don&039;t I always try?"
Sandra slipped her hand under my arm and led the way out of the kitchen
"It just keeps finding lanced back in tiin an animated conversation with one of the ?"
"Jack Yes, I am, and yourself?"
"Evan&039;s my escort He wandered off rather early What happened this tia theain?"
"He&039;ll have to get new ones, he lost the is he probably will He never seems to learn"
"Like a drink?" I offered as a waiter approached She nodded and I swept a glass off for her "Does Evan sell much of his art?"
"Hardly any, his work is too different for conventional tastes, but I s now and then"
"Beauty, brains, and talent Congratulations What do you paint?"
"Anything that sells, I&039;ood?"
"For ood for artistic integrity"
"What do youabout art?"
"I&039;lass of cha tray "Coive you a lesson in the basics" She took me away from the mainstream of the party into the more sparsely populated areas of the house
"You know this place pretty well?" I asked, trying to keep track of the layout
"Oh, yes, we&039;re very good friends with Leighton and Reva I&039;ve sohton&039;s studio as ht artists were always in competition with each other"
"To a certain extent that&039;s true, but we also exchange ideas and critiques Of course it usually depends on the artist Evan and Leighton have totally different styles, so they appeal to different tastes Now look at this one, so anywhere in the world, in almost any house"
We paused in front of a landscape of , cloudy sky There was a lot of detail to it, the colors were pleasant to look at, and it was very similar to the rural scenes in Gordy&039;s office
"What do you think?" she asked
"I&039;e"
"Do you knohat you like?"
"Yes"
Her attention sharpened "But what?"
"I don&039;t know, maybe it seeain "Let me show you some more"
We explored the open areas ofclose to all the walls and studying enough canvas to support a shton Brett&039;s style was distinctive to hiet into his paintings forone to look at for years at a tihted
"What&039;s this about?"
Her s effect on her face "You are one of the few people I&039;ve met who&039;ve spotted it"
"What did I spot, then?"
"Leighton&039;s artistic manipulation"
"What&039;s that?"
She gestured at the painting, this one of a vase of flowers "See the colors, very bland except for this touch of red here and here, which gives it all balance I&039;reat deal of technical skill, but it&039;s all very carefully planned, as you said, just a little too perfect" Her attitude wasa pupil and enjoying the interaction for its own sake
I looked at the flowers again and knew that with or without Sandra&039;s information I still wouldn&039;t like it "What do you paint?"
"The saet paid as ras, which certainly helps at rent tiram for artists"
"Oh yes, and it&039;s saved more than a few lives"
"Do you paint what you like or what they tell you?"