Page 49 of Property of Baffle
“Umm, Nell, I’m not sure painting is your thing,” he said.
I turned to look at him and threw my head back as I barked out a laugh.“Don’t you know how car’s get painted, Grunt?”
“Do I look like I know how cars get painted?”
Poor guy.I continued to laugh at his expense, but noticed that Knuckles appeared just as curious.“You think I fucked up my own art, huh?”As if in sync, both men nodded vigorously.“Well, I’m not going to spoil it for you by letting you see pictures of the piece that led to this commission.How about you have a little faith in the process and the fact that you already kinda know how much I’m getting paid for this beast.”
“Honestly, Nell, I was just thinking you might have to give that deposit back.No offense because the think looked sweet as hell before you did this shit to it.”He pointed to the imitation ’57 Chevy I’d made from scrap parts.And his tone said I should be held accountable in some way for destroying its raw form.
I laughed again and sipped some more water.“Lucky for you, it’s hot and dry here.It’ll cut down on the curing time and I can get started on the real paint job before long.”
“Figured you would be on a longer break about now,” Brady said as he drove up in his Polaris.“Brought some food out.”
“You make this shit?”Knuckles asked as he eyed the honest-to-God picnic basket in the man’s hands.When Brady nodded, Knuckles face devolved into pure menace.“You looking to get wifed up, man?You know the way to our hearts is through our stomachs.”He patted his flat belly and laughed as Brady flipped him off.
“The way to my heart is through my dick, when a bitch sucks like a fucking hoover,” Grunt added as he started to dig through the basket.I shook my head and then laughed as Brady popped him in the back of his head.“What the fuck was that for, asshole?”
“Ladies first and that was for Baffle because he wouldn’t want you talking about getting your dick sucked in front of his woman.”
“Shit!”Grunt turned like he was going to apologize but I waved it off before he could even get started.
“Nothing to worry about.Honestly, you couldn’t insult me any worse than you already did by making fun of my art.”Brady smirked as he took in the drying primer coat.
“It has to get worse before it gets better,” he added sagely.
“Exactly.It’s all part of the process.”
“Taking a thing of beauty and making it ugly?”Grunt asked as he popped a grape into his mouth.
I rolled my eyes.Brady popped him in the shoulder with a fist that time.The men of Violence, New Mexico were a special breed and I loved being able to hang out with them.I wished Rick was here, too, but his brothers were good for the soul and helped take my mind off whatever might be going on with my husband.
As I got back to work, after lunch, the men pulled out some chairs and stools from around the bay to watch me work from a safe distance.I didn’t blame them.The coveralls were far heavier a material than my paint suit and they had been sweltering in them.What was good for drying primer quickly was not the greatest temperature to have to wear thick layers in.
A few times, I noticed that the crowd outside my bay had grown.Just about the time I was ready to throw in the towel for the day, I glanced up to see that Crutch, Tilly, Sammy, and Ryan had all joined in with Knuckles and Grunt.Brady had disappeared at some point, though.
“Didn’t realize I would have an audience this big while I worked,” I said as I took the respirator off and started to peel down the paint suit.“Where’s Hawk?”
“With his mom,” Crutch answered.
“Okay, Nell, I can see that I was wrong earlier,” Grunt admitted.
I took a few steps toward them and then turned around to assess the work I’d done.There were still finer details that I would make to it, but the base of the car was all violent reds and oranges.It appeared to be on fire, and looked like something driven straight out of the pits of hell.That would be further added to when I put on the hubcaps later that fitted with three dimensional flames to make the fire effect pop.The paint cooled to a deep purple that faded to black at the top.The top was nowhere near done, though.When I finished, it would look as though the hood of the car had lifted through the clouds and touched heaven.As soon as my client had asked for the seven deadly sins as his theme, I saw the final version of this paint job in my mind’s eye and it was the goal I’d been working toward all along.I smiled and then turned back to Grunt and the others.
“You ain’t seen nothing yet.This is child’s play compared to what it will look like in a couple days when it’s done.”
“Jesus,” Knuckles huffed as he stood and stretched his body out.“Can’t wait to see it finished, Nell.”He continued to stretch after sitting still for such a long stretch.“You need help with cleanup?”
“I won’t turn it down.”
“Good.That means I can take a closer look.”
“I’ll help, too,” Grunt offered.I rolled my eyes at him.He had been waffling all day about whether I ruined my own piece of art or if it was finally getting better.
Crutch’s eyes kept trailing me as we worked to clean up and get everything closed down and secured for the night.When we finally had everything locked up, he tipped his head for me to follow him.We wandered off away from everyone else as they all got packed up.My crutches were splattered in paint.It was a bit difficult trying to work with them close enough in case I needed the assist and I didn’t think to protect them.I was an artist anyway, so splattered paint was a look I could rock without batting an eye.
“Are you going to tell me what went down at the prison or why I haven’t heard from Baffle all day?”I asked.
He smiled at me and then pulled me in for a hug.“My boys are together.They had to drive out to Santa Fe this morning.They left just after you did.”
