I drove home on Wednesday afternoon; cut my history class. The weather was cold, gray, but no snow yet.
It was good to come home. Mom was making supper in a t-shirt when I came in the door. I hugged her and hugged her and rubbed her ass. Frank and Ralph were there, too. And Dad. It felt so good to hug him again.
We all talked thirteen to the dozen through supper and a long time after. Frank told us about his work at school, his engineering drawings and such. Ralph showed me his latest science project. I brought out a portfolio of Will´s drawings.
That sort of took over the evening. We spent the rest of the time looking at the drawings, talking about the group and my wonderful friends. I told about how Saul´s dad was helping us, how he had asked Will to send a whole lot of drawings along when Saul went home. I talked about our business plan.
“When do you plan to start this?” Dad asked.
“I guess we´ll start the retail side next semester. That´s the Life Studies of Mary and me, and the stationery line. We´ve almost got enough of the studies to get started, and the stationery is really only a matter of getting the equipment together. Need to find a location, too. Something cheap, but private enough for taking the pictures.
“Then we´ve got to get some kind of production set-up going so we can make prints of Will´s stuff, not just sell his originals to be lost forever. What with school, there´s going to be a lot to do.”
It was late when we went to bed and I heard Mom and Dad making love during the night. In the morning, Mom gave me a grin while we started coffee. “Hope we didn´t keep you awake, Anne. Well, those pictures are something else.”
“Not half as much fun as posing for them.”
“Now, stop that. There´s work to do today.”
Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful. I talked to Marianne for an hour while the guys were watching football. When I went downstairs to catch the wind-up, I noticed Mom and Dad were taking a love break. Mom waved when she saw me go past their door.
On Friday, Marianne and Martin, Seth and I went out for dinner. We ate a lot, talked a lot, went back to my house. Upstairs, we relaxed like old times, in my bed.
When the phone rang, it was Saul. “I hope I didn´t catch you in the middle of something.”
“Nope. Just finished firsts. It was great. How are you doing? Getting any?”
“Well, yes. Had a date with my old girlfriend. She´s getting married soon; wanted to say goodbye, or see you later, or something.
"Listen, can you get away tomorrow? I´ve got a lot of news from Dad and other stuff and I think it would be good if we all could talk on Sunday.”
“Yes, I guess so. Want me to meet your plane?”
“Would you? I´ll leave right after synagogue. Be there about 2:34, United Express.”
“Right. See you then. Uh, Saul?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
“I love you, too, Anne. And I miss you.”
“Did you take your girlfriend home yet?”
“No.”
“Good. Enjoy one for me.”
“You too. Bye”
I went back to what I had been doing with Martin.
.oOo.
When Saul came out of the gate, he hugged me hard. “What´s the plan?”
He hugged me some more. I got the idea, and we went to his room before we headed out to 23rd Street. They´d be out riding anyway.
When I rang the doorbell, the peep hole flashed and Mary opened the door in the nude.
“Been like this all weekend, huh?” I said.
“It´s really comfy. But Will and I just got back from the stables, and I was going to take a shower. Thanks for calling this morning, Saul.”
We went in, settled down in the living room. Alex was there, watching college football. “Good time?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Us, too. Too bad you missed Mary´s Thanksgiving dinner. Wonderful. And leftover turkey tostadas. Probably some left for tonight.”
Will and Mary came back from the shower. They hadn´t bothered to dress. Saul and I peeled, too.
“How´s the house?” I asked.
“Great,” said Mary. “Two big bedrooms with kings. Huge master shower and separate tub. Wonderful kitchen.”
“I heard about your turkey tostadas,” Saul said.
“Want one? I´m really hungry.”
We wandered into the kitchen, got out leftovers and beer and sat around munching turkey with cranberries and lettuce and stuff, all on blue corn tortillas. Delicious.
.oOo.
Alex went out hunting early Sunday morning and captured some cinnamon rolls and a coffee ring. We settled in the living room once we had finished eating, a big pot of coffee on the table.
“You know I took the business plan and a lot more of Will´s drawings home with me. I talked a lot with Dad, and I went to see one of the dealers we sent stuff to.
“Both Dad and Manny Fox agree that Will´s work is highly saleable. Manny asked me for a regular supply. Dad says he can sell everything he has to collectors or to dealers. He and I estimated the value of the work Dad has in hand at around ten thousand dollars wholesale.”
“Boy,” said Will.
“So, it looks like we have a potential business, as long as we keep Will healthy and happy.”
“Leave that to Mary and me. What did your dad think about the business plan?”
“He liked most of it, Anne. He´s pretty skeptical of the Life Studies line. Doesn´t think it´s good enough to make much money. The stationery line, well, he said he knows nothing about that business, can´t tell whether the amount of work that goes into an order will pay enough return. I think we need to look at that.
“There are two areas he had some comments on. One is reproduction, the other is marketing. We aren´t clear enough about how we´re going to reproduce fifty prints, or whatever, of each of the Erotics and Explicits, and he thinks we don´t know what we want to do with the nudes, sell them outright or make them into serigraphs. Prints, that is. And, he thinks the idea of a gallery doesn´t really fit the products we have. He wants a better proposal on distribution.”
Alex said, “Okay if I jump in?”
“I´m done.”
“Okay. I´ve been thinking about production. As far as I know, Will, prints are lithographs, and engravings – that´s one thing – or else they´re photo-reproductions of an original.”
“Well, yes. You have to include woodcuts and works originally done as lithographs or silk screens. That´s not what we´re talking about, though.”
“So, these prints are just pictures of a picture. What is it that makes a print more or less expensive?”
“Quantity,” said Saul, “That´s all. And the reputation of the artist. If you make ten thousand, you sell them for ten bucks. If you make ten, you can sell them for what you want, as long as the demand exists. Is that right, Will?”
“I think so, sounds right.”
Alex continued. “Then, here´s my idea. We can try it out easily and at almost no cost. These digital color copiers they have now are very good. Let´s go to Canon or someone like that, and make a couple of copies on their best machines. Then, send them to your dad and see what he thinks. Just don´t tell him how we did it. If it works, we rent their top-of-the-line machine and keep replacing it as the technology develops.”
“Really sneaky idea. I´m for it.” I said. “What about you, Will?”
“Probably be fine for the pencil and pen and ink stuff. I´d want to look really hard at how the pastels come out.”
“Well, I think you can fiddle with the saturation and hues, Will. Once it´s digitized, you can do what you want until it comes out the way you like.”
“I say, let´s try it.” Will agreed.
I said, “Will could leave the original unsigned. The copies get signed by Will, with that numbering thing they do, 23 of 50, or whatever.”
Mary said, “How about this, with the nudes?... Will, you know I love those. I could look at them all day, they make us look so wonderful... When Will does a new one, we offer it for sale as an original for a couple of months. If after that time, it doesn´t sell for, say four thousand – just picking a number – we make fifty prints and sell them for one fifty or two hundred each.”
“Mary! Even if we only sold... uh, 30 of them at 150, we´d still make more than four thousand,” I said.
“Well,” said Saul, “on the other hand, we might only sell ten. But the idea is sound. And we can put them on the shelf and sell them whenever.”
“How are people going to know we have them?” Will wanted to know.
“Harry´s right about that,” Mary said, “A gallery can´t reach enough people.”
“We´ve got at least two ways around that,” Alex said. “We can do a catalog of our lines and send them to dealers or whoever. And, we can have a web site, where people can order the catalog, maybe see a few pictures. By the way, I have all the software we need to produce a catalog. Web site is a cinch.”
I said, “I still think we need a gallery. For looks, if nothing else. I don´t see this as a virtual business.”
“No,” agreed Saul. “There are a lot of collectors who´ll want to come and look at the originals. That sort of thing. And we´ll need something physical for the horses. We can have it next door to the Life Study and Stationery showroom.”
“The stationery line is another opportunity,” said Alex. “It would give us better usage of the copier, and I can do something with the graphics program that would sort of automate the imaging part of it. Cut down operator time and effort. And, if we put the stationery line in the catalog, we´ll get more of that business.”
Mary said, “I guess we´ll need more than one catalog. One for collectors, one for a general market.”
I said, “Don´t forget one for dirty-minded people of all sexes.”
“Never,” said Saul. “Except for the horses, we are in the business of selling erotica.”
“What shall we call it? Dirty Pictures Unlimited?”
“Come on, Mary,” said Will.
“Well, what, then?”
We went around that for quite a while, trying for a name that covered the erotica and the horses. Finally, Alex came up with something we were too tired to argue with.
“We´ve played with combinations of our names. Nothing. All the other ideas were too artsy-fartsy or silly. Try this. Anne´s name is Stilwell. Still Well. Still Water. Still Waters – they run deep, is the saying. How about Still Waters Art?”
“Still Waters Erotic Art?”
“I like that, Saul,” Mary said. “And then, Still Waters Equestrian Art.”
“Still Waters Gallery, a division of Still Waters Art,” I suggested.
“Worth a try. Want to go for it?”
“Yeah. Hey, I´m famished. Any tostadas left?”
.oOo.
Over lunch, talk turned to other things.
“Saul, did Sigrid fly up with you and Tom?” Mary wanted to know.
“Yes. She´s one great-looking lady. I liked her; she has a head on her shoulders.”
“Tom will be coming by the room this afternoon. We need to fill him in,” Alex said.
“I wonder if he´s going to stay with us?” Saul wondered. “Sigrid seems to have quite a hold on him.”
I said to Mary, “She sure seems to know how to maximize the value of a scarce commodity.”
“Virginity? God knows it´s scarce these days. For me, it seems like an asset nobody really wants.”
“Well,” said Saul, “one thing´s sure.”
“What´s that?”
“It´s an asset she´s sitting on.”
“Pig.”
“One other thing, too,” said Will.
“What?”
“We´ve got to move. Get out of the dorm. Get a house, room to work in. Less noise downstairs.”
“Bigger bed,” said Alex.
“Ours is pretty comfortable,” Mary said.
“You´ve never had to sleep on that damned sofa.”
“Oh. Guess not. Can we afford it?”
“If our folks will put up the same amount for rent they do for our rooms, we can,” Will said, “I figured it out.”
Mary said, “Let me look into it, okay?”
.oOo.
When we got back to North College, we were only minutes ahead of Tom. He was beaming.
“Had a good time, huh?”
“Great.”
We told him all about the afternoon´s meeting, Still Waters Art and stuff.
“Alex,” he said, “I can help you out with the hardware side of the copier thing. Networking´s my field.”
Mary asked him, “How about helping me look for a house? Assuming you´re not going to marry the lady right away.”
“No. Neither of us is ready for that yet. Sure. My dad´s a builder, you know. I´ve banged a few nails myself. I should be able to spot problems.”
“Great,” Mary said. “Tell you what. It´s been a long weekend for you. Come next door and talk to me about something constructive.”
“Call if you need help, Tom,” Saul told him.