her campaign slogan was Take the lead with Sylvia Fried. "I won, but my face hurt for week after from smiling." Sylvia had not talked so much in years. Her punishment came two weeks later, when she examined the portrait with glasses on. On canvas she appeared cut from a block of stone. Even the folds of her dress looked carved. "So heavy, so settled looking?" "An interpretation. I saw something eternal in you." "The rock of ages." "OK, OK, I exaggerated a little," Hal said, brushing back a strand of gray from her forehead. "You want me to fix it up?" ''No, no, never mind," Sylvia said. Finished was fmished. She remembered how Judy would do a painting, nice design, pretty colors- she was into abstract toward the end-but then she' d keep on painting, painting. No, there was no way to change Hal's picture without mining it. "That's art, 1 guess." A few days later, Hal began a portrait of Naomi. What a relief for Sylvia that her modeling days were over. Now she could try the culinary masterpieces that for years had been simmering in her head. Every evening at five she got out her pans, her bowls, her chopping board, and her knives and she diced, sliced and stirred; something dark and meaty for Hal, colorful and vegetarian for Naomi. She loved to watch Naomi stuff herself. She especially loved Hal's "Haven't eaten like this in years." No one since Irving had praised her cooking. Soon Sylvia started taking risks: puree of chestnut soup, squash with wild rice and hazelnuts, beef teriyaki, and a carrot-raisin pie that seemed to fill Naomi out overnight. One day Naomi left the apartment early, dressed in a baby blue dress with a string of pearls, no less. Wherever she was going, Sylvia hoped Naomi would get back early, because she was planning a special souffle: one side spinach for Naomi, the other seafood for Hal, the overlapping middle for herself, if nobody else wanted it. At three, just as she was putting a batch of rum-walnut macaroons in the oven-Sylvia was beginning to think she had a way with egg whites- in walked Naomi and Hal. He wore a navyblue suit, the first suit Sylvia had ever seen him wear, with a carnation in his button hole, yet. Filii #21
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