Chapter 9 #3
After getting off the phone with his brother, Audon took a long, hot shower and went to bed.
He wouldn’t be disturbed by any of them.
They knew that once he was home from a show, they were to wait for him to call them.
Mom might call to see how he was doing, but for the most part, she left him alone, too.
The time changes would kill him going back and forth for only a few days, and he would need his sleep.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he thought of the project that he had left undone and couldn’t wait to get a start on it again.
Rolling to his back, he closed his eyes and let the last four days just fade away.
Waking up to go to the bathroom, he decided to get himself something to eat as well.
There were always things in his cabinets that he could munch on, and now was no different.
Basically, that’s all he had in his place was munch food, as he rarely ate at home anymore and didn’t care for cooking. He could, he just didn’t care for it.
Going back to his bedroom, he got into bed.
Lying on his back again, he closed his eyes, but all he could think about was the project.
Getting up and getting dressed in his painter’s clothing, he was at his studio in less time than it would have taken him to have a meal.
Getting himself a soda out of the fridge, he looked at the outline on the large canvas and saw the finished project.
He could always see the finished work when he did the outline of it on the canvas.
It was something that he did with other media, too, like when he was doing his pottery stages of work.
Having weighed out the clay, all he had to do was close his eyes and see it standing there ready to be glazed.
As he was mixing paints for this one, he thought about all the colors that would go into the painting and was excited.
The colors were what made him a great artist. He was never too afraid to use as much color as he could mix. And people loved it.
It was nearly five hours later when he had the first layer of paint on the canvas.
Stepping back, he could see the main section of the work and the other elements that went with it.
He knew that it was going to take him weeks to get this one done; it was a large canvas, but he felt good about how much he’d gotten done already.
Perhaps he’d be able to sleep now and took a shower.
He had all the comforts of home in his studio and lay down on the bed in the smallest work area and fell right to sleep.
“Hello?” Sitting up on the bed when he heard his mom talking, he said he was in the bedroom. “I’ve been trying to reach you for days, young man. Where have you been?”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I must have forgotten my cell phone in the house.” She told him it had been four days. “I’ve been out for four days? I must have needed it. I feel so much better.”
Audon got up and kissed his mom on her cheek and asked her if she was all right.
After explaining to him that she’d been worried about him, she wandered around the work area to have a look around.
She was the only one he’d allow to do that, and she usually gave him good feedback on the things that he was working on.
“Oh, Audon, this is spectacular. I love the golds and the reds together.” He said he’d come out to work on it when he’d gotten up the first time. “So you might have been sleeping more than that. What day did you get home?”
“Monday.” She told him it was Saturday. “I’ve never slept that long before. But I’ve been stressing about this painting since I did the outline. I shouldn’t have done it before I left for France, but it wouldn’t let go.”
“I understand. I’m just worried about you when you’re down for so long.
” He told her again that he was sorry. “We’ll be having dinner at Axel’s home tonight.
The others will be there. I know they’ve been trying to reach you for days, too.
Tell me you’ll come over and we’ll all be together for a change. ”
“I can do that. Now that I’ve started on the painting, I can work on it when I have time.
I know that it’s going to take me a while, but I can work with that and other projects at the same time.
Will Lori be there too? I didn’t get to know her all that well before I left.
I need to remedy that.” Mom told him how her mother had tried to kill her, and she’d shot a sitting judge. “My goodness! I did miss a great deal.”
After giving him the entire story, she told him about the apartment that Lori was going to have cleaned out when she had time. She told him that her heart hurt for the younger woman and hoped that with the love and support of this family, she’d be better.
“I’m sure that she will. She seems like a nice girl.
” He opened himself up for it and wasn’t surprised when his mom asked him if he’d met any nice girls lately.
“I’ve been really busy. You know that. And she’ll come around soon.
I’m not stressing about finding her or her finding me.
When she gets here, I’ll fall madly in love with her, and we’ll have about fifty kids for you to dangle from your arms.”
“Dangle indeed. You know better than that.” He laughed and kissed her again. “I’d better get going. I have to tell the others that I found you and that you’re safe and sound. I’ll see you at dinner at Axel’s home, correct?”
“Yes, I’ll be there. I just have to take another shower and get cleaned up. I feel like I have been asleep for four days and didn’t wake up. I do feel better, though. I never thought that I’d sleep that long and feel anything but sore. I’m glad that you found me.”
“I am too. There are only two places that you could be, and I know that one of them is here.” She hugged him tightly and told him that she loved him. “So very much my baby boy.”
“I love you too, Mom. More than there are stars in the sky and flowers in the yards.” After she left him, he went back to his condo to get cleaned up.
While he had clothing at the studio, he didn’t have anything that was dressy, and he felt like he needed to dress up after giving them all a scare like he had.
Eating another couple of granola bars to tide him over.
He was suddenly starving. He was thirsty too, but drinking enough water helped him out with that.
As soon as he was ready to go, he went to his brother’s house to see if he could snag some food.
He’d eat dinner, but he was about to starve to death, needing something on his belly.