June 2023 Flash Lit 5 - Two by Two

Five and Seven said nothing, but looked at Two. Two began in a low voice, “Why the fact is, you see, Miss, this here ought to have been a red rose-tree, and we put a white one in by mistake; and if the Queen was to find it out, we should all have our heads cut off, you know. So you see, Miss, we’re doing our best, afore she comes, to—” At this moment Five, who had been anxiously looking across the garden, called out “The Queen! The Queen!” and the three gardeners instantly threw themselves flat upon their faces. There was a sound of many footsteps, and Alice looked round, eager to see the Queen.  Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 8

 

 

Bil cursed.

 

Fifi shrugged, “She’s the client, you know.”

 

“But I was almost done!” he cried.

 

“Just fix it,” Fifi said.  “We need the money and the cachet.”

 

“Fucking cachet,” Bil sneered.  “This isn’t what I want to do, painting sentimental fucking roses for rich bitches.”

 

“Do you like eating?”  Fifi didn’t wait for a response.  “Do it.”

 

Bil glared, but he took the first panel back to his easel.  He hunted through the chaos for the brushes he wanted.  It was bad enough to have to paint roses, but red roses were about as clichéd as it was possible to be.  And he had to do it twice.  On two-by-two canvases.

 

He found his smallest brush in a pickle jar of cloudy water.  He rolled it along a cleanish piece of paper towel and dipped it into his newly mixed red paint.

 

Fifi slipped out of the studio to call Mrs. Card to let her know her commissions would be done by the end of the week.

 

“Lovely!” Mrs. Card said when the paintings were unwrapped in her overcrowded living room.

 

“I’m so glad you like them,” Bil said.

 

She never noticed the tiny letters in the shading of the petals spelling out “Fuck you” over and over.