Read Online Distortions by Ann Beattie - Free Book Online Page B

look so happy if you were a three-year-old with a broken leg,” the doctor assured him.
    A vacationing photographer and his wife, who had stopped to eat at the restaurant, noticed Wally’s pictures hung in back of the cash register and wanted to buy them. David wouldn’t part with them, but he let the photographer take pictures. David didn’t think much of it. About a month later, though, the photographer was back, this time with another man. They wanted to write an article about Wally for a magazine; Wally’s art would appear with it. Sheila was delighted. She told the men that her son was artistic, like her. David felt that they should think about it; what if he developed a terrific ego? “He’s already strange,” Sheila said. The photographer took pictures of Wally at his fourth birthday party. There was also a birthday interview, during which Wally echoed everything the interviewer asked:
    “Do you like to draw a lot, Wally?”
    “Do you like to draw a lot, Wally?”
    “Ha! You’re a nice kid. And a good artist.”
    “Ha! You’re a nice kid. And a good artist.”
    “Do you know any famous artists, Wally?”
    “Do you know any famous artists, Wally?”
    “Have you ever heard of the Mona Lisa?”
    “Have you ever heard of the Mona Lisa?”
    “Sure, I have. Have you ever seen it?”
    “Sure, I have. Have you ever seen it?”
    “You don’t feel like talking today, do you?” the photographer asked.
    Wally pulled up his top lip, showing his two big front teeth. “You don’t feel like talking today, do you?” he repeated.
    “Nope. I’ll just take some pictures,” the photographer said.
    A little girl from Wally’s party stood on her head for the photographer. The photographer noted with interest that Carters still manufactured white pants with yellow roses on them.
    Wally’s fourth birthday party was immortalized on a magazine cover. There was a picture of Wally’s head, and above it, in little balloons as if he were imagining them, reproductions of his drawings. The magazine sold a lot of copies, tourists came to the restaurant, Sheila agreed to part with a few drawings—to museums only—and Wally jumped off the roof of David’s station wagon and broke his right arm five days after the cast was removed from his left leg.
    Sheila consulted a child psychologist, who had written them to say how interested he was in Wally. She wrote that Wally jumped off of cars and tables and broke his bones. What was she to do? The psychologist appeared in person! Perhaps it was related in some way to her being a ballerina. After that, she beat her legs much harder at night, danced in private, locked the basement door to Wally when she gave lessons. The psychologist, in answer to David’s question about why Wally repeated what was said to him, suggested that it might be related to David’s memorization and quotation of F. Aha! From then on he thought F. He said nothing. Wally didn’t break any more bones. During the year he gave up repeating things. He also gave up art. In fact, when he had to color maps in the first grade, he did it sloppily. “What is your new interest?” David asked Wally optimistically. “Nothing,” Wally said.
    In the second grade Wally had a girlfriend, who was in the fifth grade: Susan Leigh. They played the harmonica to each other.When his romance with Susan Leigh ended he took a leap—again from the car top—crashing the harmonica with his fall. Sheila wrote to the child psychologist, saying that Wally was no longer interested in doing anything. After a long time she got a letter. The doctor had retired and was living in the Bahamas. There was a check for eight dollars with the letter. The doctor asked her if she would buy a best-seller he had read about and send it to him, as it was unavailable on his island. She had trouble finding
Murderous Midnight
, and about a month later she received an angry note from the doctor, asking why she had failed him.
    In the fifth grade, Wally