All characters in sexual situations are 18 or older. Thanks for reading!
The bell over the door chimed merrily as Samantha, Noah, and Kathy entered The Belle Dame. They looked around in wonder. The place was almost completely bereft of paintings. Only two hung from the walls. "Mr. Luci?" Noah didn't see anyone. He turned to Samantha. "Maybe he's going out of business."
"Oh, hello." An old man with a white beard and a friendly face appeared through a door in the back. "We haven't had any customers in a while. Market saturation and all that." He trundled toward them with a smile on his face. He wore a cardigan, wrinkled corduroy pants, and looked as casual as Mr. Luci did formal.
"Is... Mr. Luci... here?" Kathy sniffed the air. There was something familiar about the man.
"He is not." The man stopped before them and stuffed his hands into his pockets, his avuncular smile undisturbed.
Samantha realized she still had her coat on. "It's not sweltering in here."
The man let out a deep, ringing laugh. "Mr. Luci does put a heavy finger on the thermostat."
"How can we reach him?" Noah scratched his head. Everything in the store was so unexpected, and he was trying to catch up. "Mr. Luci, I mean."
"He'll be back later." The man shrugged. "I'm Mr. El-Kanna, I'm a partner in The Belle Dame. Can I interest you in a painting? The final two are both mine." He gestured at a portrait of a big, blue alien firing a blaster and racing down a corridor with several women around him. Then, he nodded to a painting of an Asian woman staring at a laptop with a younger Asian man seated next to her. The screen wasn't visible, but it was obvious from her expression that she was looking at something shocking.
"Yours? I thought Mr. Luci made all the paintings." Noah was even more confused.
Mr. El-Kanna sighed like he'd had this conversation too many times. "Mr. Luci is boastful and prone to exaggeration. About half the paintings are mine and half his." He nodded at Kathy. "You're Mrs. Bly's daughter, correct?" He smiled when she nodded. "Your painting is one of mine." He pointed a finger at Noah. "Mrs. Reader bought yours, of course, and it's one of Mr. Luci's." He then nodded at Sam. "You look just like your mother. Your painting is mine." He held his hands, palms up, moving them up and down like he was weighing something. "About half and half."
"Well, there's a problem with my painting. Maybe you could come see it?" Noah's stomach turned over. He felt very uneasy around this man.
"That's impossible, I'm afraid. All sales are final." Mr. El-Kanna ambled over to a small table and poured himself a steaming mug from a copper kettle. "Can I offer any of you some tea?"
"No thanks." Kathy stalked toward the man, looking down on him with narrowed eyes. "You made my painting?"
"I did." Mr. El-Kanna nodded. "One of my spookier pieces.
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her."
"Is that the Bible?" Samantha stepped next to Kathy. When Noah stopped next to her and held her hand, she squeezed it tightly.
"Yes, it's Hosea 2:14." Mr. El-Kanna frowned at the three of them. "You don't know your Bible?"
"We go to church sometimes." Noah shrugged.
Kathy shook her head.
"I'm Jewish." Samantha smiled pleasantly.
"Hosea is from the Torah." Mr. El-Kanna's scowl deepened.
"We're not religious." It was Samantha's turn to frown. Thinking of her family brought her mind back to the monster her brother had become and her mother's fate.
"That is unfortunate." Mr. El-Kanna sighed. "I fear Mr. Luci may have already won." He sipped his tea slowly.
"Won what?" Kathy forced her breath to slow down. She couldn't very well toss this kindly old man across the store, despite her inclination.
"You're kindling violent thoughts, aren't you?" Mr. El-Kanna's smile returned. "Oh, don't worry. I'm not opposed to wrath when it is well deserved. I am, however, but a simple old man. I deserve only your kindest thoughts."
Noah could see Kathy's shoulders bunching. He stepped between her and the old man. "We need Mr. Luci to come by my house and see the painting. When can that happen?"
"Never." Mr. El-Kanna stood and walked to the front door. "We don't make house calls." He held the door open. "We're closing early today. Time for you three to run along."
"What did you mean by 'Mr. Luci may have already won'?" Kathy let her friends pull her toward the door, but she resisted on the threshold. The chill winter air swirled around her and entered the store.
"You're letting in a draft." Mr. El-Kanna gave her a wink. "Goodbye now."
Without meaning to, Kathy followed her friends out onto the sidewalk. The door closed behind them and clicked as Mr. El-Kanna locked it. He turned the "open" sign to "closed" and walked slowly through the store. The three friends watched him disappear through the door in the back.
"Is he leaving out the back?" Noah turned and raced down the alley. "Come on," he called. But when the teenagers arrived behind the store, they found no door or any sign of the old man.
~~
"Mom! Mom! Snap out of it!" Ella clapped her hands, but her mother continued to crawl around on the floor, barking. "I wish Dad were here." She pressed her lips together and tried not to think about how unseemly her mother looked in her tight yoga pants and her butt high in the air.
"Ruff... ruff... need... need... ruff..." Mara's face tightened in concentration for a moment and then relaxed as the thoughts drifted away.