Read Online I Am Gold by Bill James - Free Book Online

friends.’
    â€˜An eternal problem where there is a multiplicity of crumpet,’ she replied. ‘ Primus inter pares – first among equals is an oxymoron, of course, yet like most oxymorons has an accessible meaning.’
    â€˜I heard they’re well known for it.’
    She stood up. ‘I suppose that in London you’re reasonably safe – lost in the crowd, as it were. But, talking of possible early death, and taking into account your profession and its uncertainties, I hope you normally have a bodyguard, bodyguards, nearby. And a bodyguard, bodyguards, you can trust. Goodbye, Mr Shale. I’ll get the trust details worked out. Next time you’re in London everything should be ready for signature. Matters have gone very well, I’d say, wouldn’t you?’
    Shale considered he and the Pre-Raphaelites were very close in a spiritual sense, despite the century and a half gap. At the Denz funeral, Mrs Lake had spoken in quite a decent style of a possible new partner for him, but, obviously, neither of them knew then that on the next afternoon, following the divorce and will discussions, he’d meet Naomi Gage for the first time on this trip. They both came to stand at more or less the same instant in front of an Edward Prentis picture called The Remembrance . Shale already had a Prentis on the wall at home, and, eventually, this helped in the conversation with Naomi. But he didn’t go forward at a rush talking to her. That would be like trying a pick-up, and he could tell this would turn her off. She did not at all look the type. She gave most of her eye contact to The Remembrance . He just stayed there, gazing, the two of them quiet, appreciating. Manse thought the best plan was to let the Edward Prentis do the work.
    He could feel an invisible but strong link being made, from the painting to him and from him to her, or possibly the other way, from the painting to her and from her to him. But whichever direction you took, it always started from The Remembrance , like that picture had been put there only to draw the two together and offer them a kind of blessing. Yes, he knew this must be rubbish, but the idea did take hold of him for a little while, and brought delight. Although the gallery was quite busy Manse had the notion that the three had become sealed off and private: The Remembrance , the woman and himself. Hubert could not of been part of it, even if he’d gone with Manse to the gallery.
    Although clearly impossible, Manse would have liked to thank Denzil for causing the visit to London and creating in a roundabout manner the chance for this deep Prentis experience, a kind of unplanned spin-off from his cremation. Manse realized that some refused to class Edward Prentis as a real Pre-Raphaelite – not one of the ‘Brotherhood’, as a group of painters of that period called themselves. But Manse loved his work and he could see at once that Naomi did, too. But, of course, he did not know her name at that stage.
    Manse stood in front of the Edward Prentis Remembrance painting with Naomi, though, clearly, he wasn’t exactly with Naomi and did not know her to be Naomi at that time. He had to realize that many people stood close to other people in galleries when looking at pictures, but this did not necessarily bring them together at all, beyond the togetherness of looking at the same pictures. Any linking was with the pictures not with one another. As Shale saw it, the difficulties he met came in two special kinds.
    First: how could he start a conversation? Manse would feel ashamed to seem like some slimy git sniffing around galleries for women on their own to chat up. That meant high-quality and famous art would be treated as nothing more than a classy route to a pull, showing rotten disrespect for the Pre-Raphaelites and for Naomi. As Manse saw things, he had come to the gallery for the Pre-Raphaelites, not to prowl for attractive women, but if an