Chapter 9: Easter

Pat Spector spent a long time looking at The Goddesses, Will's big, portrait pastels of Anne as Venus, Mary as Diana, Heather as Ceres and two of Sigrid as a Nereid and as Leda. She said nothing, then, "Show me the horses, Will," she demanded. Will took her into the gallery and then into his studio, where he was working on a western commission. Pat sat down on a chair. Dean wandered in and sat on the window sill while his wife studied the work in progress closely.

"I always knew you'd be good, and you are good. There are two things I like. You're still learning, you're still experimenting. Don't ever stop. The other thing is, you can do horses and you can do people. Completely different, but you've got so you can do both just like shifting gears."

"Frankly, it's not that easy, but thank you for the compliment."

"I'm sure it's not, but you deserve credit for making it look like it is."

Dean said, "I'm impressed by the way you do people with horses. Riding them or just being in the picture. Makes me think of Degas."

"Thanks, Dad. Actually, I learned something from one of my first commissions. The subject was a woman on horseback. She was a particularly unpleasant person, so I got the idea to paint her in the nude, just for fun, while I was working on her mount. It turned out it helped me get the relationships right. I could make her body look as it should look, doing what she was doing. In fact, I know now she wasn't as good a rider as she thought, but I made her look that way, and that got me more commissions."

"Doing all the nudes you do doesn't hurt, either," Pat said.

"No. Being able to catch the nude figure in the act — almost any act — has gotten to be almost second nature. So, all I have to do is get the figure right and dress it up after."

Muriel, Anne and Mary were working on the Seder. Pat asked what she could do.

Muriel answered, "Would you get the blue and white dishes out of that cupboard and run them through the dishwasher? Every time we do this, I try to get a little more kosher. Can't hurt."

After she pushed the button, Pat said, "Do you always go around in the nude?"

"No," Anne answered, "We always wear what we feel like wearing. Sometimes it's nothing, sometimes it's not."

"Well, Pat, it's only fair to say that it's pretty rare to find any of them what you or I would call 'fully dressed'. I must say, I've not only gotten used to it, but I enjoy it myself."

"Yes, I can tell."

"Well, let me tell you, chopping veggies or cleaning house with clothes on gets stuff all over me. Now, all I need is a quick shower. When the cooking starts, we've got aprons so we don't get burned. Skin's practical, but just so far."

"Muriel, let's be honest about this, too," Mary said. "Pat, wandering around and working all day mostly or completely undressed has another purpose for all of us."

"Yes?"

"Hell, it's obvious. Sex. We're horny all the time anyway. Being mostly bare just makes it easier and more frequent. Lots of people pretend there's some other reason, and we certainly all enjoy nudity for itself — Heather especially — but mostly it means I get laid more often. Uh... does that offend you?"

"No, not really. Not the way you just put it. I've always associated nudity with sex. I guess I've never taken the next step, that nudity and sex are acceptable ends in themselves. I got brought up to think of sex as procreation. The fun — the wonder of it — wasn't acknowledged or it was made sinful. That's why I've just always been a clothes-on conservative. Seems like there are all kinds.

"Conservatism is a habit of thought, not politics," Anne said, absently, then looked up sharply. "Sorry, I've been working on a paper for philosophy. Didn't mean to sound pompous."

"Not at all. And you're right. Hope you get an A."

"Thanks, I expect to."

"Dean, tell me what you think of the stuff these guys are turning out," Harry asked.

"Erotic art's been around ever since there's been bathroom walls, Harry, you know that. And I don't mean that pejoratively. It's everywhere. The wealthy Romans bought friezes and mosaics, the poor Romans wrote on the walls. Same today. I think Will's stuff is extremely high quality, and not just because he's my son. Making it available in variety and at reasonable cost makes sense in today's world."

"They're making money at it, too."

"Nothing wrong with that, I'm all for it. I would have hated to see Will doing commercial graphics. Its not right for him."

"You know Muriel and I collect erotic art."

"Will told us. As I see it, there's good and bad erotica, same as anything else. I've seen some Japanese things that are hilariously funny, some that are simply not believable or ugly, and some that are beautiful and moving. The same is true with western erotica, but it's harder to find good stuff. What these guys are doing is some of it."

"Will seems to be able to do both the erotic and the explicit, as he chooses. In addition to the wonderful nudes and the horses."

"Harry, I have to admit, I'm very proud of him. We both are."

"Should be."

This weekend was the first appearance of the Still Waters Riders. Sarah and one of the stable's regulars had organized transportation for the horses and their riders. Several girls were entered in junior events, their first time in competition.

Midway through the show, however, they all formed up outside the main ring. The announcer called, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Still Waters Riders! Today, with a demonstration of the basic skills of horsemanship." He went on to describe the group as 12-to-14-year-olds with less than a year of formal training.

The music started up and the girls led the horses into the ring. The horses were unsaddled, each with only a hackamore and a 12-foot lead. The girls led them at a jog down the ring and into position. Each rider began touching her horse, going over them with their hands, touching them everywhere. They each lifted all four feet of the horse from one side, either off or on. Then they changed horses.

The announcer's spiel went, "Each rider works with all the horses in the herd, just as cow-hands share the use of all the horses on a ranch. Each rider addresses all the horses individually, gains their confidence by the way they approach and handle the animal."

As the announcer's patter went on, the riders took the ends of their leads and, using signals, caused the horses to move forward and back, around in a circle in each direction, and cross to right and left. They changed again, and each rider went to the off side of the new animal and on a signal, all mounted bareback from the ground on the "wrong" side. With just a hackamore and the lead rope, the riders walked their mounts, brought them to a trot, and on another signal, cued them to a stop, and immediate backup. Then, they had the horses pass to both sides, crossing their feet. The riders jumped off the horses, and took the next mount's lead.