As retold by
Bruce Lowitt
Sadie, married for forty years to a wealthy businessman,
decides to have her portrait painted.
"You should paint me exactly as I am," she tells the artist before her
first sitting. "These wrinkles? You put them on your canvas. The bags my
eyes, the flab on my arms, the wattle on my neck, the varicose veins, the
splotches, everything. Paint them all. But I want you to add a lot of jewelry
-gold necklaces, a diamond ring. No. make that six diamond rings, three on each
hand. And a diamond tiara. Do you understand?"
"Sure," the artist says, "but do you mind if I ask why?"
"Because if I die die before my husband does, I know he's going to go out
and find himself a new wife, probably some blonde chickie half his age. She's
going to see this painting with all the jewelry. And I want her to go crazy
looking for it."
|