SPHINX... and other stories

SPHINX

SPHINX

by Dan Ahearn

Buddy and Mina were living in Europe at the time. Mina wanted to draw and Buddy was a writer. Mina hated America although she talked about nothing but California, the state in which she was born. Mina convinced Buddy that they could live in Europe cheaply. They would find themselves as artists there, she said. This was enough for Buddy. He had begun to think he was not even a writer, much less an artist. And if he was not a writer he had no idea what he could be. If Europe was the answer, then he would go and that was that. Buddy and Mina had been together for two months when they decided to move to Europe.

The lived in an old house on the canal in one of the North Countries, one of the lowland wet countries, Holland, or Nederland as the natives called it, in the city called Amsterdam. The house was owned by an institute that benefited artists who were good at writing grant proposals and Mina wrote wonderful proposals. The institute was European and when they saw her work they gave her 5,000 dollars and a free room in the old house for one year. Buddy came along as the spouse, though they were not married. The Europeans asked no questions.

The house was very large as houses go in Amsterdam. It was right on the canal, separated from the water by a narrow street. Inside there was a large foyer with a grand staircase which twisted up and around to the second floor. Buddy imagined the foyer filled with a Christmas tree, candles winking, a rich Dutch merchant's family in evening clothes surrounding it and singing Christmas carols. Buddy was romantic. 

The place had actually a derelict barren appearance and feel. Buddy and Mina lived in a room on the second floor. A smaller narrower stair went up from the second to the third floor. From there a steel-runged ladder went straight up into the attic.

Mina was not a painter. She knew that color brought more money on the marketplace, but she worked in black and white. She used pens, pencils and charcoal. She drew her dreams. The pictures were surrealistic. When Buddy first saw the pictures he said, My God, do you have these nightmares often. He was smiling when he said it. Mina didn't smile. Yes she said, she asked for them every night as she fell asleep. Then if she had one she would wake when it was over and scribble a sketch in half-sleep by candle light.

Buddy finally got used to sleeping by candlelight. At first he was worried about the danger of sleeping in a room with an open flame. Mina said there was nothing to worry about and that was that. It still frightened him sometimes when he woke in the flickering candle light, heart hammering, thinking the room was on fire. Then he heard Mina scratching away at her pad with a pencil. Sometimes, her eyes would be closed. Eerie. Mina's output increased enormously once they were settled in their room on the second floor.

Buddy struggled for two months before he finished a story. It was only three pages long, but he felt it was pretty good. He put the story into an empty folder he had bought at an artist's supply. He felt good. If he could do one story in two months, that was six stories for the year. Minimum. He would certainly do more. Europe was so stimulating, Mina said. He was beginning to hope that it would be true. He thought of showing the story to Mina. He decided to wait until he had a good start on another. 

That night he woke up and heard the pencil hissing on the rough surface of Mina's sketch pad. He had been sleeping with his back to her, a pillow covering his head. Still, he heard the pencil hissing. It sounded as though she were making long smooth lines. The candle cast her shadow on the wall. The candle flickered and the shadow moved. Mina seemed to sway slightly and her shoulders moved with the lines she drew on the pad. He listened until the pencil stopped. Some time later he had gone to sleep without knowing it. 

In the morning he looked at the sketch Mina had made in the night. There was a figure, he could make that out. But who or what the figure was he did not know. Mina opened her eyes and saw him looking at the pad. She stared but didn't say a word. He noticed that she was awake and turned the pad toward her.