Chapter 7 – Felix (cont.)
See autobiography sidebar for previous chapters

Within a few months, I said goodbye to my recent traveling companion and moved into a storefront on the Lower East Side to begin spending the next 2-1/2 years with this young whirlwind. While he painted on a huge easel at home, I went off to work at the United Nations English Typing Unit on the swing shift and in the mornings wrote poetry and made ink drawings. Through his mother’s connections we both landed jobs modeling for Moses and Raphael Soyer, twin brothers who were famous for painting New Yorkers of that time.

The next several months as fall wore on into winter were increasingly emotional. We began to fight as his barreling-forward nature collided with my more cautious approach to daily events. I felt like a moth drawn to a flame, bashing against it till I was bloody. We drank some and even experimented with codeine cough syrup, but it wasn’t chemicals that were to blame. As in my marriage, I felt somehow less qualified for life than he was. Near Christmas I turned myself in to Bellevue Hospital’s Psychiatric Ward one evening, imagining a warm bed to sleep in and a warm counselor to talk to. By morning I knew I didn’t belong there and made my one allowed phone call to get sprung that afternoon. In the midst of this volatile state of affairs, his visa was running out and with passion and immaturity we made a decision to spend the next nine months on the Balearic islands off the southern coast of Spain, to be paid for by his mother who had married into money the third time around and could afford to let her son concentrate on painting. In her European way, she thought it was good that he had a slightly older woman in his life for ballast.
(to be continued)

Deep Thought: There used to be a house on our block that we thought was haunted, because you’d hear people screaming inside and because people who went in never came out. Later on we found out it was just a murderer’s house.
Today I am grateful for: Kerry making it through Debate #1 unscathed
Guess the Movie: “Bring the dog. I love animals. I’m a great cook.” Answer: Fatal Attraction, 1987.
Polls Today Kerry 221/Bush 276 EVP: “The first polls are already in on the debate. The American Research Group ran three quickie polls on the first debate and in all three sample groups, Kerry won, by margins of 10%, 10%. and 18%, respectively. But I wouldn’t take these instant impressions too seriously. Did you notice that BOTH candidates got the colors wrong though? Kerry had a red tie on and Bush had a blue tie on.”
End of Day: – 9:09 pm
+ = The local mountain kept its tantrum minimal.
- = thenarrator is taking a hiatus