Reflections
This is just crazy.
I’ve only been in this God-forsaken town for a few nights and already
I’ve seen some of the weirdest crimes of my career. This whole thing
about Durrant’s zombie cat is really getting to me. I can’t decide if
he is crazy or if someone is deliberately deceiving him. I can’t think
about it anymore tonight I guess.
This
hotel is very poorly lit. It’s almost eerie how quiet it is, and it’s
next to
the highway! I get chills every time I walk into my room. Oh, well, I
suppose my insomnia won’t let me sleep tonight either. Where did I set
that book I was reading?
Oh,
yes, here it is: “History of Weehawken Art.” I’m usually not much of an
‘artsy’ type of guy, but I’m just glad to find something to read other
than the Bible in my hotel room for a change. For a room that is so
dark, there sure are a lot of pictures up. I have to light about ten
candles so I can see what I’m looking at. Most of the pictures on the
wall are described in this book.
Okay, I’ll start at Chapter Four, where I left off last night.
Yep, I remember
reading about this picture that’s hanging above the nightstand; “The
Raven” it’s called. This book really is pretty good. There is a little
story next to each painting with some of its history. I really got into
the story about the bird. It was pretty creepy.
Page
62, “The Oval Portrait.” That isn’t exactly the most creative name, but
the girl in the picture is so beautiful it makes up for it! Wow, she
really is stunning. I haven’t seen this one yet. That’s funny, almost
all the pictures in this book so far have been on my wall. I wonder if
they have a copy of this one downstairs?
Inspector Le Rennet
gets out of bed, takes up the candle, and heads for the door.
Oh!
There it is in the corner! That’s strange, you can’t even see it from
four feet away! This darkness is really playing tricks with my eyes.
Oh, yes, she is so gorgeous. Wow, the lack of light combined with the
deeply chilling cold in this room must be affecting my mental capacity
as well! I thought for a moment that I was looking upon an actual human
head!
But
no, no, I am being silly. What does this book say about this beautiful
young woman?
The
Oval Portrait was painted in 1845 and caused the death of Mrs. Sylvia
Radcliffe. The history of this particular piece is mysterious and
tragic.
The
marriage of Sylvia Smith to the painter Sir Radcliffe began well enough
for most marriages. Sylvia was a loving, adoring wife. She attended to
her husband's every wish, all the while feeling second best to his
paintings. Every day he spent a little more time painting and a little
less time with her, until finally she agreed to let her husband paint
her portrait. Sylvia was so jealous of her husband's obsession that
even
the thought of his painting her own picture was painful.
But
Sylvia loved, and did as loved ones do for the ones whom they cannot
live
without. And each day that she sat for the portrait, she grew more
sorrowful, and each day her
husband failed to notice. Often he would pay so much attention to his
work that he would forget her presence altogether. The painting took
weeks and weeks because the painter wanted perfection. By the time
there were only a few brush strokes left to go, the artist knew he had
created something so close to human that the wife's hair in the
portrait appeared to be swaying ever so slightly in the breeze of the
open
window.
“A
dab of white to make your lips kissable, and now a clear gloss to make
your eyes shine true! I
have never before seen a painting glow quite like this one. And yes! I
have painted you to perfection!” the painter exclaimed his triumph so
that everyone within earshot could partake in his accomplishment. The
painter looked away from the painting for a moment, wondering why his
wife wasn’t rejoicing in his accomplishment. Sylvia, that most devoted,
loving
wife, lay dead on the floor. Her body was cold, life drained from her
young bosom.
AH!!!
The detective threw the
book in the corner. Not knowing quite what to do with himself, he
quickly dressed. After blowing out the candles and grabbing his coat
and hat, he headed out into the dark night. Perhaps had he known what
the night would bring, he would have been content to shiver in his
damp,
dark, safe room.
Unearth the truth...
Or
Go
Home ...if you're scared
Review Profile: Introduction
Author's Note: This is
a
new version of Poe’s tale The Oval Portrait. My version retains most of
the details in the original story. In Poe’s version the story tells how
a man is sitting in a room full of paintings and books. He is not
tired, so he
decides to read from the books for a while. He discovers the Oval
Portrait in a dark corner of the room and almost mistakes it for a
human being. He then reads the story about how the woman in the
portrait died. The
original tale never said exactly what caused her death, but that is the
great thing about Poe’s work! He frightens us with the mere suggestion
of
supernatural death. I chose to keep the story so close to the original
because I saw that my character, Detective Le Rennet, could use this
story to figure out more about what this crazy town is about. I didn’t
use any true-life murderers in this story, sadly, but I thought it was
more important to develop my main character. And do not forget that
Detective Le Rennet is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s pseudonyms and that in
the very first detective story that Poe wrote, he saw himself as the
detective. That will be important to remember as the story comes to its
final chapter.
Bibliography:
Story Title: The Oval
Portrait
Book Title: The Works
of Edgar Allan Poe
Author: Edgar Allan Poe
Year Published: 1843
Web Source: Edgar
Allan Poe Society
The Oval Portrait. Web
Source: Amazon