Nude Men

woman who may have cast a love spell on me. I really should wonder about such a thing, logic tells me. So I wonder about it.
     

chapter nine
     
     
     
    The Circus
     
    I haven’t visited Lady Henrietta in almost two weeks; she hasn’t invited me. When I tried inviting myself, she said she was too busy. She sounded depressed. Now she finally says I can come, so I am entering her apartment, about to go say hello to her in the kitchen, but I am arrested by the sight of Sara, standing at her mother’s easel, painting men’s clothes, which is not what arrests me, because she often does that. She is wearing a sparkling yellow floor-length dress with a huge crinoline. I have never seen anything so radiant. A large blue and white parrot is perched on the easel.
    I go up to her and say, “What is all this?”
    “I’m glad you’re here,” she says. “You can meet my new parrot. Mom bought it for me yesterday.”
    “Why?”
    “Because I wanted it.”
    “That’s nice. It must have been expensive.”
    “Ten thou.”
    I’m pretty knowledgeable about pets, so I know that she’s probably not lying.
    “All you’re interested in is money,” she says. “Don’t you want to know his name?”
    “Yes.”
    “Richard.”
    “Why Richard?”
    “It was the name of my old dog, who was named after my previous dog, who was named after my previous cat, who was named after my blue blanket, who was named after my father.” Ah, her father, that mysterious thing called her father. What a strange foreign word coming from her mouth. Well, that should certainly satisfy people who think this little girl’s father is an important absence in her life, you Freudian jerks.
    “Say hello, Richard,” she tells her parrot.
    The parrot is silent.
    “He hasn’t learned to talk yet,” she explains. “Ask me how much my dress the color of the sun cost.”
    “How much?”
    “Two thou. All you’ve ever given me was a Jane doll. Do you realize that?”
    “I hadn’t thought of it, but now that you mention it, you’re right.”
    “Aren’t you embarrassed?”
    “It hasn’t been your birthday or Christmas yet.”
    “Typical!”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I want something from you. I certainly deserve it, and not only that, I also demand it.”
    “What do you want?”
    “Wait a second, I have to decide.” A second later, she says, “I want a Humpty Dumpty made of gold, another one made of platinum, and a third one made of gold and platinum, with diamond eyes, an opal mouth, and sapphire dimples, wearing an emerald earring, a ruby necklace, and a hat of dried flowers, with yellow straw hair sticking out under, and I want him to be sitting in a crystal dish of potpourri.”
    “Is it okay if I just get you the potpourri?”
    “No.”
    “I don’t think such Humpty Dumpties exist.”
    “Oh really Jeremy? Well I thought you could get them at any old supermarket,” she says sarcastically. “I don’t want something that already exists, except for Richard.” And she kisses her parrot. “These Humpty Dumpties must be custom-made. Like this dress the color of the sun.” She slowly turns around to model her dress.
    I squint, blinded by the sparkling fabric. “It’s lovely,” I tell her. “You look like a queen.”
    “You’re stupid! I’m not a queen; I’m a princess. Queens are old and thick. So, will you give me those Humpty Dumpties? I love custom-made. I never knew it existed before.”
    “They would be too expensive.”
    “I feel sorry for you, Jeremy. You are little. You are a little piece of nothingness.”
    I do believe my hair is standing om end. She picks up her skirts, grabs her parrot like a teddy bear, and calmly marches into her room, slamming the door behind her, majestically.
    I’m gonna tell on her. I go to the kitchen. Henrietta is sitting at the table, on which is lying a large pink fish with blue eyes and green fins. A marzipan fish. The biggest marzipan thing I’ve ever seen. A striking resemblance to the Humpty Dumpty with sapphire dimples. Resemblance in mentality and roundness.
    The fish’s right fin is half eaten. Henrietta is picking off some more with her fingers. I am so full of my tattletale plans that I don’t pay attention to her sullen air.
    I begin, “So, was that custom-made too?” I point with disdain at the fish.
    “Yes, actually.” She keeps eating the fin.
    For an instant, I feel like tearing off the whole tail, but then I don’t, because I’m usually not the type who