A week after she had agreed to do a painting for Black Ela still had no idea what she would do.  It had to be something with action, but that still left a huge range of possibilities.   Luckily Ela had an idea of who she should turn to for inspiration.  Red picked up on the first ring.

            “Hello.”

            “Hello Red, it’s Ela.”

            “Ela, Ela… no I don’t know any Ela’s.”

            “Well I know you.  Your face is on every bus stop in town.”

            Red groaned.  “I know; how embarrassing is that?  I have to ride the bus.  I stand at the stop and I see people looking back and forth between the ad and me.”

            Ela giggled.  “You never mentioned that you were working as an English teacher.”

            “You never asked what I do.”

            Ela paused, she realized this was true.  She also realized that he had never asked her what she did for a living, something she had become adept at lying about.  “I guess I thought you were a full-time magic hunter.”

            “That would be the dream, wouldn’t it?” Red wistfully replied, ”Unfortunately I must finance my quest by more traditional means of employment.”

            “Well, I hope you can go pro one day.  Anyway, I was calling to ask if you know much about art.”

            “I know less than I’d like.”  

            Ela imagined Red could give that answer when asked about any subject.  “Well what’s a painting with a lot of action in it?”

            “The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch” Red replied without hesitation.  “Many people, all of them moving, all of them with a story.  Fantastic painting.”

            “Thanks.  I’ll look it up online.”

            “Don’t do that.”  Red snapped.

            “Why not?”

            “Painting is an inherently slow medium while the internet is an inherently fast one.  Scrolling through a collection of condensed jpg’s is about the worst way to experience art.”

            “What do you suggest then?”

            “Go to the museum and see the original painting.”

            “Where is that?”

            “Madrid.”

            Ela shook her head, not that Red could see that.  “Thanks anyway.”

            “Hey, are you free on Tuesday?”  Red asked.

            “I suppose so.”

            “Great.  Take the 169 bus to the last stop.  Come prepared for hiking and bathing.”  

Hiking and bathing… an odd combination.  Ela decided to just go with it.  She did have one more question though.  “What’s something you’ve learned today?”

“I learned the concept of face value.”

“What’s that?”