A Day In Anna's Life

A Day In Anna’s Life

1.

She had just finished eating breakfast when her phone rang. Answering it, she knew it was her art rep and she noticed, by glancing at the wall clock, that he waited until a minute after ten to call her because he knew she never answered her phone before ten A.M.

“Anna, I’m not interrupting you, am I?” Hal asked.

“No, I had just finished breakfast and you’re timing is perfect.”

“You know who Sam Granger is, right?”

“Of course.”

“Well, he wants to interview you.”

“Did you tell him telephone interviews only?”

“I’m well aware of your rules, Anna, and Sam is fine with that. But he is hoping to see some works in progress.”

“I will e-mail him several, care of the newspaper he works for. But never to him or anyone else a photograph with me in it.

“I’ll mention the e-mails to him and he already knows the no photographs rule, but you realize the more publicity your paintings receive the higher the demand for them will be”

“Hal, we’ve been through this before and you’re enough of a friend to understand I want my creative efforts to become well known, but my private life has to stay private.  creative efforts to become well known, but my private life has to stay private. That’s why my phone number is unlisted and my mailing address is a Post Office lock box number."

“Yes, I know. Remarkably talented, a bit eccentric and stubborn,” he teased her and said goodbye. 

Anna spent the next few hours cutting to size sections of canvas to mount on stretcher bars she assembled herself, attaching each canvas to their own frame with staples, a process she enjoyed doing. Then she applied gesso to each canvas, a process she took seriously because she didn’t want to see obvious brush strokes on the canvases. 

After doing so, she carefully lifted each one and leaned then against the wall. Then she sat in a chair in her studio to study them. While doing so she received a call from an old friend.

“Bette, you taking a break from editing?” Anna asked her.

“Ha! Sometimes I think I over-edit my stories. Sometimes I think I don’t edit them enough. And sometimes I want to scream in frustration. I’m always coming up with excuses when I’m not sure where to take the story I’m working on.”

“Sounds like me and some of my painting when I don’t think they’re turning out exactly the way I visualized them to look.”  

“Yes, we’ve discussed this before, but I called for a specific reason.”

“You’re not trying to fix me up with another blind date, are you?”

“Am I that obvious?”

“Considering we’ve known each other since grade school, yes.”

“I deserve to be mocked for my failed past efforts, but Aunt Lucy suggested him, not me. And, from what Aunt Lucy told me, you and he share a lot of the same interests. And I’ve got a good, non-emotional feeling about him.”

“Okay, but don’t tell me about his age or what he looks like. Tell me what he does and what he really wants to do with his life.”

“Okay, Anna Banana, but don’t laugh when I get around to telling  you what he does for a living.”

“I’ll decide if I should laugh or cry after you tell me what he does for a living, Bugger, she teased her long time friend by using her childhood nickname.

“Aunt Lucy showed me a photo of one of several installed structures. One was of a Racoon family riding on the back of a Llama. Another photo is of a maybe twenty foot tower that has maybe a hundred holes in it. It looks like Swiss Cheese made of cement.”

“Certainly inventive, Bette, and I’ve seen the Swiss Cheese Monument in person, but that doesn’t mean he’s someone to consider entering into a serious relationship with.”

“Always true, but this guy I want you to meet didn’t design these two structures. He simply photographed them, showing them in their most appealing way. He took the photos at the request of Aunt Lucy and she told me they turned out great. And you know, she is the head of our City Parks And Recreation Department.”

“So he’s a professional?”

“Yes, and no?”

“Please don’t get cryptic with me.”

“He is a serious photographer, but Aunt Lucy says he claims it’s just a hobby. I was just letting you know he’s got his own talents. And Aunt Lucy also says he loves to read, loves art and has a natural wit that many people love.”

“Sounds promising, but what does he actually do for a living?”

“You won’t laugh?”

“I may give you a kick in the behind when we see each other again, but I won’t laugh.”

“He teaches wood shop and metal shop at the same high school Aunt Lucy teaches at.”

“Nothing wrong with that, as long as he isn’t the abusive male type.”

“Not all men are, Banana Brain. And he’s certainly not close to being like your ex.”

“Sounds very promising, but is he the needy type who wants to spend a lot of time with the person he’s involved with?”

“I hardly doubt that, you picky woman. In his spare time he teaches and coaches youth league basketball and soccer, both girls and boys teams. And he’s got both a wood shop and metal shop in this own garage, simply because he enjoys building things, according to Auntie.”

“So now his age and what he looks like?”

“I’m guessing he’s in his mid-thirties and I haven’t seen a photo of him. Aunt Lucy says he’s not the ‘eye candy’ type, but he’s not bad looking.”

“Okay, Ms. Cupid, give me a few weeks to think about it.” Anna told her and they said goodby.

2.

Although Anna is not a regular drinker, she liked to hang out at a local Tavern several times at week. Here she can socialize with the people in the neighborhood she’s met and she will drink two draft beers from the tap while at the Tavern. And when she arrived at the Tavern there were only two people she didn’t recognize by site and they were a couple, perhaps in their mid-thirties, sitting at a small table near the center of the room.

Anna wasn’t fond of judging people she doesn’t know and haven’t met, but the woman spoke loudly, much louder than was needed in the half-empty Tavern on a Monday night. And she listened to their conversation because it was either sat and hear what the loud woman was saying or step outside or head to the women’s restroom and hope the loud woman toned down her voice or the couple left the Tavern.  So, Anna headed to the bathroom, even though she didn’t need to, and lingered in there for perhaps fifteen minutes. But, as she walked back to her bar stool, the couple were still seated at the table.

And as she listened silently to their conversation, the man was telling his date about a painting he saw and loved at the Beck Gallery down the street and suggested she should see it, telling her it was a large, somewhat surreal, painting of an apartment building where every window facing the street seemed to be of a different style, from Gothic to Art Deco to modern and in every window someone was looking into the street, from older people to children, and they seemed to represent a cross-section of the city’s population. Less than half way through his describing the painting Anna knew he was describing her painting, one she called ‘Generations’ and this pleased her.

Then his date told him she really wasn’t interested in seeing the painting, even it he thought it was wonderful, because only realistic art appealed to her. Anna said nothing to the couple as she paid for her beer and said goodnight to the people she knew at the Tavern. And, on the block long walk back to her loft, she chose to dismiss what the woman said because Anna was proud of the efforts she made and outcome of her painting.

3.

It was close to 10:00 PM when she arrived at the steps of the Brownstone and Bette was sitting on the steps waiting for her. After they were inside, sitting in comfortable chairs in the library, Bette stared at her friend for several moments before she spoke.

“Well?” Bette finally asked.

“Well, what?”

“What did you think of Greg?”

“Greg who?”

“The man Aunt Lucy and I told you about. The teacher and coach?”

“I haven’t met him yet, Bette,” Anna informed her old friend.

“Oh, well. I suppose he couldn’t make it to the Tavern. Aunt Lucy told him where it was and told him you hang out there several times a week.”

“Oh, hell, Bette, I’ve had enough drama and stress to last several lifetimes, starting as a teen through my really poor choice in that jerk I married.”

“I know. We’ve known each other a long time.”

“If your Aunt Lucy is still awake, do me a favor and call her now.”

“And?”

“Ask her, by chance, if Greg has a sister?”

“As in if he possibly asked his sister to come with him to the Tavern so you wouldn’t feel too uncomfortable talking to a stranger? And if he doesn’t?”

“Then ask her if he might have invited a fellow teacher along, a female teacher, for the same reason.”

“And if he didn’t?

“You were a real pain in grade school and you’re still a pain in the butt. So, forget the call to your Aunt Lucy. Sister of no sister. Teacher friend or no teacher friend. If that was Greg in the Tavern, I don’t want to believe that was his date. If we’re supposed to meet, we’ll meet. Leave it up to fate or Karma, but we’ll meet. Anyway, Bette, I’m worn out from over-thinking and want to go to bed. So, when you get the chance call me tomorrow.”

On the sidewalk Anna watched Bette silently linger for a moment, then grim at her friend. 

“If  Greg had a sister her name would be Gloria and you wouldn’t like her and her conservative taste in art. If he had a sister,” Bette replied

“You’re a worthless sack of skin and bones.” Anna shouted at her.

“Yes, I am, and not just because I get paid well to write humor novels. I just wanted to make you mad enough to get over your fear of dating again.”

“It’s not a fear, but a caution. Sometimes I’m too cautious. With some of the stress and disappointments and heartache I’ve had I’m scared to try again.”

“I completely understand that, because you’ve been hurt emotionally and, that one time by your ex, physically, but you’ve got to put all that behind you and move on.”

“Did you ever get over your brother Charles, after he got his degree, moving out of state and denouncing  materialism and never contacting you or your folks, except e-mailing you twice a year to say he’s still alive?”

“Yes, that still hurts me a lot, that’s not the same thing, and you know it. I’m not the one who’s afraid to take the chance to overcome past setbacks. It’s like when Judith introduced you to that guy who teaches at Tech. You only said hello and walked away, telling me later he wasn’t your type. That’s like a form of self-sabotage.”

“I know. I just wasn’t ready, just wasn’t... just go ahead and call your Aunt Lucy it’s not too late,” Anna replied.

“She doesn’t teach during the Summer and stay up until around 11:30, so I’ll call her now. But I want to talk to her privately first,” she told Anna, then walked perhaps ten yards down the sidewalk. After she talked to her Aunt Lucy she came up to Anna and sat beside her on the steps.

“Well?”

“Greg has a sister he invited to join him at the Tavern.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t mean they were sitting at that table.”

“Are you so scared that you’re trying so hard not to believe that maybe you’ve gotten a deserved break?”

“If you weren’t my friend I would disown you.”

“You’re my best friend and I love you, Banana, but you’ve become like a beautiful Butterfly who’s been trying to return to what she perceives as the safety of her cocoon for years. And even if Greg isn’t the right person for you, at least you’re spreading your social wings again.” 

Bette gently laughed as she rose up, gave Anna a note with Greg’s phone number on it and walked down the street to her townhouse.