In the park, on the criss-cross bridge by the lake, stands a floozy. Naked.

I swish my tail. Crane my neck to see better. Floozy is pale with black hair. A bluebottle in a bowl of milk. She tears up yellow petals and drops them into the water. Light dapples kitten stripes across her creamy mounds. I flare my nares. Catch a whiff of her tang. Floozy makes a humming sound. Like a nectar-drunk bee. My whiskers quiver trouble.

Madame is perched on her green stool behind the large white board. I’m beside her, as usual. I arch my back, flash my amethysts, and purr. “Not now Sheba,” Madame says. She stares ahead, transfixed. She takes up her brush and starts painting.

The ball in the sky turns from orange to red to pink. Shadows like snapping dogs scatter over the gravel. Madame continues painting.

Later, in the studio, as the candle gutters, I rub myself against Madame’s calves and meow. “Shoo Sheba,” Madame says. Eventually, she goes to bed. I’m famished.

I can see in the dark. Dozens of paintings. All the same. All of Floozy, curves gleaming. I unsheathe my claws, sharp as secateurs, and begin shredding.

*The Bridge (at the Harbor) (watercolor, 1912) by Swedish painter
Carl Larsson (1853–1919) is held in a private collection; image above
was downloaded from Wikimedia Commons:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carl_Larsson_The_Bridge_1912.jpg

Publisher’s Note:

Revered as the ultimate chronicler of Swedish domestic life, Carl Larsson is best known for his light and airy watercolors depicting his idyllic family home in Sundborn, where he lived with his wife and eight children. He was married to interior designer and textile artist Karin Larsson, and their work has profoundly influenced Scandinavian interior design. Their home Lilla Hyttnäs is owned and preserved by their descendants and has become part of the Swedish cultural canon.

For an armchair tour, see “The Art of Home: Carl and Karin Larsson” by Chris Hartman, with photographs by Mattias Edwall, in Upstate Diary (Issue 16, May 2023):
https://www.upstatediary.com/carl-karin-larsson

Bio: Jane Salmons