Chapter 15: Artist in Residence

“NATE,” JORDAN CALLED. He was at a table with Simon Guzik. “Can you join us for a drink? Even stay for dinner if you can.”

“I’d love to, Mr. Marsh,” I said, “but I promised to escort Renée home after the event. I think she’s earned all the care I can give her.”

“Oh, invite your beautiful model to join us,” Guzik said. “I’m thinking I might want to commission a whole set of photos of her.”

“Thank you, Mr. Guzik. I’ll check with Renée and see if she’s willing to stay for a while. I’m sure you understand, though, that my first responsibility is to my model.”

“Of course! That’s the way it should be. If that was Sarah, it’s exactly how I’d want you to act.”

I packed up my equipment and talked to Renée. She was delighted that she could stay to have a drink. Richard was still sitting at the piano and I noticed he had a drink. I was glad he got one, too.

Leslie took my lights and tripod bag, assisted by Lance, who shook my hand again. I turned to Richard and said that we had to leave by four-thirty. He grinned at me.

“I’m off the clock now. Mr. Lapinski, the manager, has invited me to play and entertain here in the lounge until eight. It’s good pay and I get dinner, too,” Richard smiled.

“Go, man! That’s great!”

I took my camera case to the check room and was given a ticket to reclaim it. “Nate Hart Attic Allure” was plastered all over the case and the check room was secure. I went to escort Renée to the table with my patrons. The people at the tables had shifted and we moved to a booth where Renée and I were surrounded by my four patrons and Jordan.

“Renée, this is Mr. Marsh, a collector of fine photography, with which appellation he has graced my pictures,” I said.

“Take it easy with the big words,” Jordan said. “My daughter isn’t here.”

That stung a little, but it was said in good humor, not in malice.

“These are my patrons,” I continued. “Mr. Guzik, Mr. Heintzelman, and I’m afraid I don’t know the names of these two gentlemen.”

“Let’s say we’re Dorn and Laughton,” said the guy on the left pointing first to himself and then to the other guy I didn’t know. “Miss Bach, we find it best that most patrons stay anonymous. It keeps us out of the problems that Nate had with Sylvia Drummond. In fact, I believe Nate has never met the fifth patron and is unlikely ever to.”

I had to agree with that.

“So, what images will we see from this presentation?” Heintzelman asked.

“I did large format portraits of two poses in black and white and the same two poses in color,” I said. “You’ll have your choice of either pose in either black and white or color. I know that if they choose to take one of the large prints for the club, they’ll want color.”

“I’ve always preferred the black and white,” Dorn said. “But I’m interested in seeing the color version. The pose was beautiful. As was the model.”

“Thank you, sir,” Renée said. “I think it was all through the artistic direction of Nate. He managed everything—not just the pose. He chose my dress, designed my makeup, and directed Leanne in doing my hair. I was just kind of what he hung everything on.”

“We’ve always said the boy was an artist,” Guzik laughed. “But it might be that his greatest skill demonstrated here today was choosing his models. Not only you, but that young man playing the piano. Well done.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“So, what are prints going to cost us,” Laughton asked.

“I don’t set the prices on my photos,” I said. “My business manager, Anna Marx, manages that aspect. I’d end up giving everything away. I’m sure, however that she’ll give a ‘discount’ to patrons of ten percent above what it costs anyone else.” The men all laughed.

“I tell you what,” Laughton laughed. “Have your business manager add another ten percent for each of your models and you have a deal.”

Renée gasped. I looked at her and raised my martini to her. She smiled and lifted her Manhattan. Drinking in the afternoon was going to be a dangerous activity for both of us. I resolved to refrain from any more and pulled out my pipe.

“Do you mind, Renée?” I asked.

“Oh, no. I don’t mind. I love the smell of your pipe, as long as you don’t blow smoke in my face.”

“How about that commission?” Guzik asked. “Your choice of theme, but I would love to have a full set of photos of Miss Bach. I would hang them in my office next to the set of Sarah.”

“Sarah?” Renée asked.

“Sarah Fox...” I started.

“The actress? You have photos of Sarah Fox?” Renée asked. “I was in New York over the holidays and saw her off Broadway in Two Coins for the Poor. She was wonderful! I’m sorry it wasn’t a very good play, but that wasn’t because of her acting.”

“I’m amazed that you even know of my daughter. It makes a father proud,” Guzik said.

“Her father! Wow! The rumor in the theatre department was that her father was some famous gangster,” Renée said with wide eyes. I groaned.

“Ah for the good old days. You see, Dorn? They don’t even know who we are anymore. Washed up,” Guzik said. I wasn’t sure if he was joking.

“I think Renée and I could come up with another set,” I said. “I want to shoot a portfolio for her to use with agencies anyway.”

“You’ll do that, Nate?” she asked.

“Absolutely. Mr. Guzik, I’ll set a time with you to discuss the content and scope of a set with Renée.”

“Excellent. Just contact Mr. Mayer. He always knows how to reach me.”

My Uncle Nate. He’d been the one who found my patrons and set up my first appointments for Chicago models to come out to Tenbrook for portfolios. Most had five-year holds before I could release their photos to the public, but Sarah’s had come with an immediate release. I had one of her photos hanging in my studio.

We had a cordial afternoon with the gentlemen, but I didn’t intend to stay for dinner, so I expressed my apologies for taking Renée away with me.

“And I need to get my camera equipment out of the coat check before they realize what they have back there and sell it!” I joked.

“Not to worry. There has never been a theft from that check room,” Dorn said. “Capone used to leave a suitcase with $100,000 in it there when he came in for dinner. Just in case he needed to pay someone off.”

Al Capone was once a member of the club? Crap!

I collected my case and Renée’s wrap and we left.

“Nate, would you like to come in for a little while?” Renée asked when I escorted her to her door. “Please?”

During our cab ride to her apartment building, she’d managed to bite nearly all the lipstick off her lips. She looked sweet and vulnerable.

“I’d like to offer a couple of suggestions for the commission,” she hurriedly continued.

“Oh. Sure. My family knows I’ll be late this evening. I should have offered to buy you dinner. I intended to and then we got caught up with the guys at the club.”

“You’re a member there, aren’t you?” she asked as she unlocked the door.

“Yes. I kind of inherited my membership. I’ve never really used it except for the shoot today. And my patrons paid the club expenses for that.”

“They’re rich and powerful, aren’t they?” she said.

“I don’t know them that well. My ... um ... agent connected us.” There was no sense advertising that Mr. Mayer was my uncle.

“Do you know what wealth and power do to a girl who is struggling? They make her hot. And when it’s coupled with an artist who made me into a real work of art, I’m dripping.”

Renée stepped back from me a step and in a quick move her dress fell to the floor. The only other thing she was wearing was her high heels.

“Take advantage of me, Nate. I’m naked and turned on. And don’t think it’s just because I had a cocktail. I intended to offer you this before I knew anything else today.”

“You’re beautiful, Renée. I feel like a fool turning you down.”

“You promised!” she said. Her tone lowered. “I mean, you don’t need to fuck me if I’m really that repulsive to you, but you promised to help me out after our shoot. Didn’t you?”

I couldn’t argue with that. I set my case down and took my jacket off just in time to catch her in my arms and kiss her. What an incredible, sexy woman. I was already looking forward to our next photo session.

Somehow—yeah, I don’t know how these things happen—when I had her stretched out on the bed, fondling her breasts, and dipping my fingers into her hot center, my clothes started to fall off, too. Sinking my cock into this sexy woman was all too easy to do and she was definitely ready for the invasion. It’s funny how a drink will speed a woman up while it slows a man down. Still, I was happy that Renée had come three times before I unloaded in the condom.

“It doesn’t mean I expect to be a regular lover or anything, Nate. I’m not looking for a boyfriend and I know you have all the girlfriends you could possibly want, but it’s really nice to know that you won’t get a girl all riled up, like posing for you does to me, and then leave her hanging. I just ... really had fun this afternoon. I’m ready to pose again as soon as you want me.”

“We’re definitely going to script the commission for Guzik,” I said. “I planned to pay you for your work this afternoon, but it doesn’t mean I’m paying you for anything other than your posing. It’s exactly the same amount that Richard got paid by the school as a school model. Is that okay?”

“You know I did it without expecting anything but the photos you promised. So, thank you. When can we work on the commission?”

“The next couple of weeks are gone,” I said. “Ronda has her last final of the quarter tomorrow and I’ve cleared my calendar to spend as much time with the family over her spring break as I can.”

“Our spring break was two weeks ago. It still seems like forever until school gets out May first,” she said. “How about the next week?”

“That’s when I’m on spring break and I’m going to LA to preview the movie.”

“You know, I’m a theatre major. I’m not ready this year, but if you happened to find someone who’d be interested in me, could you put in a good word?”

“Of course I will, Renée. In fact, I want your resume and headshot to take with me. I don’t know that I’ll have any influence in Hollywood at all after the movie comes out in May.”

“Oh, thank you, Nate!”

I was dressed and ready to go, but Renée threw her naked body against me to kiss again and I nearly got undressed to return to bed. Instead, I gave her bare buns a squeeze and told her I’d call her after Easter. She should put some ideas together for our set and I’d compare with her. We’d plan on shooting the first weekend of May.

After one more kiss that gave me time to fully appreciate her boobs a little more, I managed to get out of her apartment and head home.

The next week was exactly what I projected. I’d cleared my schedule of everything but my classes and, of course, my work study. Anna and Patricia were home with me Friday afternoon when Ronda got in from her last final of the quarter. We celebrated by going out to Pizzeria Uno and had a loving time in bed that night. Anna had to go back to school on Monday, and Patricia went to work. I got home after my last class on Monday to find Ronda dancing around the apartment naked. I could smell a casserole in the oven.

She danced right into my arms and my kiss.

“We have time to make love before Patricia and Toni get home. The casserole is in for another forty-five minutes,” she said between kisses. I picked her up and headed for the bedroom.

“I planned to get that casserole in as soon as I got home,” I said as I stripped off my clothes and rolled into bed beside her.

“Then you’d have been too busy when you got home to make love to me,” she giggled.

“I’ll be home at one-thirty tomorrow, so I’ll be able to cook and make love, too. I love you, Ronda.”

“I love you, Nate. I feel like I’ve done nothing but study and go to class since the first of January. Our time with Adrienne seems so long ago, and that was the last time I really had any dedicated time with you.”

“Has it been so long? Classes this term have really been eating our time, haven’t they?”

“Yes. I think even your classes in photography have been harder than you imagined. Are you learning lots?”

“An incredible amount. I almost feel like a beginner in these classes.”

“But your tableau went well this week.”

“It was a real high. I managed to get the contact sheets printed between classes this morning and they look great. I’ll run them over to the club between classes Wednesday,” I said. “How did you survive all your finals?”

“Study. Some of the classes were pretty logical, but having to cite international law regarding pollution on my International Relations final was a bear. I’ll be glad to be finished with Russian next term so I can start on Mandarin.”

“You’re kidding! You’re going to learn Chinese?”

“I have four languages now and a fifth will move me into an elite area of the diplomatic services. But I don’t want to think about school now. I have a week with my lovers. And we’re all going to want a heaping helping of Nate this week, since you’ll be off in LaLa Land Sunday.”

“That’s not what I should be doing. I should be spending my spring break with the family.”

“Well, the family has other plans.”

“Really? What?”

“I’m cutting my entire first week of classes next week. The four girls are going up to our summer home in Stratford to get it ready for occupation in May.”

“Mmm. Now I really wish I was going to be with you,” I said. I moved over the top of my lover and she spread her legs to accommodate me.

“Be in me now, lover. I love to feel you in me. Stay there. Live there. I love being connected to you.”

Sadly, I couldn’t just live there. It was too exciting for either of us to stay still and we climaxed just before we heard Patricia and Toni come into the apartment. It certainly wasn’t the last time we made love that night, though.

I took the contact prints to the club Wednesday along with the price sheet Anna had fixed for me. I was hoping I could just drop it off and run, but I had to greet the patrons and they looked at the proofs immediately, then at the price sheet.

“Look at this!” Guzik declared. “He’s finally got his prices where they should be. If he keeps getting this for his pictures, he won’t be needing patrons any longer!”

I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic. I was afraid we’d overstepped our bounds with these prices and I was ready to back off.

“This is the key!” Dorn said. “I’ve been waiting for an offer like this. I want both of them. There are the five of us, Nate, and the two models. The club will want the color image. We should tie it up.”

“You know Marsh will want one. He says he’s not a patron, but he has the most complete collection of Hart photos outside of Hart’s personal gallery. Nate, what are you required to submit to your class?”

“Just an 8x10 of the initial tableau,” I said. I was wondering what they were getting at.

“Perfect,” said Heintzelman. “Let’s say there is a total run of twelve 16x20 prints, signed and numbered. Of each of the two black and whites. Seven are spoken for and Nate has three he can sell when they’re worth three times this. And we still add on ten percent for each of the models. The club gets that huge color print Lech wants for the lounge. And that’s all that gets printed of this sitting.”

“We’re asking for more than was offered in the price list,” Guzik said. “We’ll have to offer more.”

“Nate,” Heintzelman said, “we need to discuss this more fully. We’d like you to put a hold on any other prints of this than the one you owe your class. When you get back from your trip to California, we’ll have a firm proposal for you. You can rest assured it will be for more than your price list asks.”

“No problem,” I said. “I don’t have time to get into the darkroom this week anyway. Um ... If you need to negotiate any pricing, please give Anna a call. She’ll be at Attic Allure Canada all next week. If you’ll excuse me, I need to run to class.”

I took off out of the club like a bat out of hell. I didn’t know what my patrons were cooking up, but I didn’t need to be there to talk about it.

“I remember when the discussions at the club were about hooch and running numbers,” Jordan said. “Now these guys are big art investors trying to manipulate the market for Nate’s art.”

“That’s true,” Uncle Nate answered. “But I don’t see it as a bad thing for Nate.”

“No. As long as they don’t cut me out of the deal, I’m good with it,” Jordan said.

I’d invited Jordan and Uncle Nate to have dinner with Anna and me so I could touch base with reality on the deal the patrons wanted to make. I thought they’d toss cold water on the idea, but it seemed like they were all for it.

“Isn’t it a lot of money to ask for one of my photographs? I’m not famous.”

“Playing the futures,” Jordan said. “They’re all big in the stock market these days.”

“Remember what the patron in Las Vegas paid?” Anna asked.

“That was a special deal,” I said. “I didn’t set the price and he insisted that his be the only one in that size.”

“And how is this different?” she asked. “You have a limited edition request. Twelve copies of the same size, all signed and numbered. You’ll only be able to print 8x10s of that picture from there on. And no more color prints. The extra big print the club wants will be exclusive. Don’t worry, I have ways to keep making money off these prints for a long time to come. Are they full frame prints?”

“Yes. They were perfectly composed to be printed full frame from the Linhof.”

“And the negative is numbered?”

“Yes, in a way. Since it’s not a roll of film, there’s a kind of universal frame number on the neg.”

“Great! Are both pictures good? I mean both shots of the same pose.”

“Yeah. Deciding which was better is a real challenge. Subtle things, though. The tilt of her head. The tension on the strings.”

“Then we’re in the clear. You print one negative for your patrons and this limited edition, then you deface the negative.”

“Do what!?”

“They need to know that you will never print another copy from that negative. Ever. But you still have the second negative. You’ll never sign prints from that one. You’ll never print 16x20s of it. But you can print and sell as many of it in a smaller size as you want. The patrons get what they want. The club gets what it wants. Everyone is happy.”

“Smart girl,” Jordan said. “Completely on the up and up. These guys won’t argue about it.”

“Uh ... Anna, you know you have to negotiate this deal with them. They’ll call you in Canada next week.”

“Fine. I know how to handle them.”

“I promised Mayer here that I wouldn’t recruit you for my business, Nate,” Jordan said. “But I’d like to consider recruiting this young lady. I like her style.”

The girls packed and left on Saturday morning. It was unusual for me to be alone in the apartment. I think the last time I’d gotten drunk and burned my draft card. There was no danger of that this time.