When Ela woke up at first she thought it was almost morning.  In fact she had only been asleep for twenty minutes.  That didn’t matter though, she felt rested enough and she had painting to do.  She picked up her brush and went to it, working through the night to make the switch.  By the time she was finished it was midmorning and the twenty minutes of sleep she’d had no longer felt nearly sufficient.  She crawled into bed and passed out.  When she woke up in the late afternoon the painting was gone.

The stack of cash on her desk made her feel more like a whore than she’d ever felt with Blue.  There was also a note from Black “Thank you for all your hard work, I’m pleased with the results.  I’ve left the agreed amount here.  I’m having a get together and I’d love to have the artist present…”  Ela tore up the note without reading the rest.  She had poured so much of herself into the painting that she felt empty now that it was gone.  If she saw it again she might try to steal it back.

Ela picked up the phone and called Red.  “She lives.” was how he answered the phone.

“Hi Red.”

“Does this phone call mean that you can spare your precious time for the likes of me again?”

He was hurt, or annoyed at least, by Ela blowing him off for the last month.  He was not the only one hurting though; he’d have to get over it.  Ela wanted to move forward, not talk about the last month.  “Do you want to get together tonight?”

“I’ll meet you tonight.  But I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“If you get another project that’s so important that you can’t give me a minute of your time again, don’t bother calling me when you’re done.  I’m not a toy you can just put away and take out when you feel like it.”

“Fine.  Fine.” She grumbled.  “Can we meet tonight then?  I really need to get out of this house.”

“We can meet.  Let’s meet at the Karşıyaka station at 8pm.”

After hanging up Ela was annoyed for a while at Red.  However, she realized that perhaps he did have a point, she had been self centered this month to the exclusion of everyone else around her.  It had been a passionate labor that had absorbed so much of her energy that other parts of her life had suffered. 

Around 7:30 Ela went to the Bornova metro.  She rode it out to the Halkapınar station then transferred to the İzban line which took her to Karşıyaka where Red was waiting.  The annoyance he’d had on the phone was gone.   Now he was happy to see her.  They hugged. 

“It’s good to see you again.  I mean, you kind of look like crap but it’s still good to see you.”  Red remarked.

“You really know how to talk to a woman.” Ela drolly assessed.

Red smiled.  “Come on, we need to get a taxi dolmuş.”  Ela and Red got into a white sedan with two strangers.  The shared ride made it much cheaper than a regular taxi.

“Where are we going?”

“Mavişehir.”

Ela wasn’t expecting a trip to Mavişehir.  It was mostly newish apartment towers far from the center of town.  Her father said that the neighborhood was for people with money but not style.  “Why are we going to Mavişehir?”

“We’re going to a party.”

“The party isn’t being thrown by a guy named Black, is it?”

“Black?  I don’t know anyone named Black.”

Relieved, Ela relaxed for the rest of the ride.  “Tell me something you’ve learned today.”

“I learned about a concept called the burden of knowledge.”

“What’s that?”

“Ideas accumulate over time.  Hence to start your career in whatever field you choose you are required to learn more than the generation that preceded you.  It means that my quest for knowledge will never be complete.”  Ela thought of what he’d said.  It had a kind of beautiful sadness to it.  Red would never arrive at his destination but he’d always have someplace to go.

Their destination that evening was a twenty four story block of flats with identical buildings on either side.  They went in and up to the twelfth floor.  When they knocked on an apartment door it was Black who answered.

“Ela!  I didn’t think you were going to make it.  Please come in.”  Black turned to address the other guests.  “Everyone, this is the artist I’ve been telling you about.”  

When Black turned away Ela whispered to Red “I thought you said you didn’t know Black.”

“I don’t.”  Red whispered back.  “Is he Black?”

“Yes.  If you don’t know him then who invited you to this party?”

“Him.”  Red pointed across the room.  The man he pointed at was Blue.

***

The party was an international affair; there were as many foreigners as there were Turks.  Brits, Americans, Canadians and one New Zealander, mostly employees from English Accelerated.   The shop girls from Black’s cosmetic store had been made to play waitresses for the party.  None of them spoke any English but that did not diminish their appeal to the foreigners.  They were like the whiteheads from Ela’s painting, anonymous background characters that existed to serve.

At first several people had questions they wanted to ask about the painting, mostly to see if their interpretation of different scenes was correct.  That died down when they realized Ela was not going to give them satisfactory answers.  Ela didn’t like talking about the painting herself, but she enjoyed eavesdropping on other people discussing it.

“Look see there, Blue and Green talking.  I think Blue is corrupt, she’s setting up Red to fail.”

“They could be talking about the case; it doesn’t mean she’s corrupt.”

“…Red is definitely dead at the end, there.”

“I don’t think so, he got hurt, but then he went to the hospital there.”

“No, he went to the hospital after he was beaten up by Gold’s goons there.”

“No, no, no.  After he got beat up he went to the roof, you can see the bruises on him there.”

“But if he found the gem on the roof then why did he end up dead in the basement?”

“…Are you blind?  Red and Black definitely just had sex there.”

“But Black is with Gold.”

“He’s just her trophy husband, he doesn’t love her.”

“…I think Green stole the gem, for drug money.”

“You’re close but no, Green owed money to Gold for drugs and Gold took the gem to settle the debt.”

“You’re both wrong.  Gold is a red herring; she’s got nothing to do with the case.  It was Blue who stole it and Green found out about it.”

“Then why is Gold having Red beat up?”

“For making moves on her man Black.”

“What if it was actually Black who stole the gem?”

“Ooo… and Red would be investigating and he’d suspect different people and only at the end would he find out it was his lover.”

“What if it’s not about the theft of a gem at all?”   

Black sat down next to Ela.  “Why did you change the hair?  Making the detective a red head and giving the other guy black hair?”

Ela gave a shrug.  “Something told me that I needed to make a switch.  Are you unhappy with the change?”

“I was at first.  I liked the hero having black hair.”  Black ran his hand through his own jet black locks.  “However there is the basement level, where the detective is lying dead, I found that part somewhat disturbing.  I think I’d rather not have an image of a man known as Black laying dead on my wall.”

Ela gave a nod of agreement.  “I thought you might feel that way.  Red needed to be the one I killed, not Black.”

“Ah, so detective Red does die in the end.”

“That is one possibility.”

Black gave her a look, as though he was trying to look through her skin and see what was in her brain.  “I need another drink.”  He declared and walked away.

Ela stepped out onto the balcony to get some air.  The day had been hot but the night had a cool breeze.  The view of the bay was good as long as you didn’t look down at the littered vacant lots that would most likely be the future site of more apartment blocks.  She heard the door behind her open.  Ela turned to see Blue stepping out onto the balcony.

“I don’t believe we’ve met.  My name is Ela.”  She extended her hand.

“We most definitely have not met before.  I’m Blue.”  He shut the door and shook her hand.  “How do you know Black?”

“We first met when he hired me to design a sign for him.  Now I’ve moved up to paintings.  How do you know Black?”

“We’re business associates.  He bought out my ex-wife’s share of English Accelerated.”

“Ex-wife?  Does that mean the divorce is final?”

“Only in my dreams.”  He leaned against the railing.  “So, you’re with Red then?”

“Kind of.  It’s complicated.”

“Why?”

“Why?  I don’t know, how about for starters because I’m your concubine.”

“You don’t have to be if you don’t want to.”

“Would you still pay my mortgage if I wasn’t?”

“You can’t have it both ways Ela.”

Ela swallowed and decided to broach a subject she’d been avoiding since the day of the hike and bath.  “And this isn’t just you trying to get rid of me because you’ve got a new ‘niece’?”

Blue looked at her with his piercing blue eyes “Red told you about her?”

“He did.  He hates her, she disrupts his lessons.”

This made Blue smile “Well Red is in luck because I’m getting tired of her too.  There’ll be someone else though.  There have always been other girls.”

“You pay for the homes of other girls?”

“No.  I’m not so successful that I can pay for the roof of every girl who catches my fancy.  The others are just passing amusements.  You, you’re something special.  I saw that in this last month more than ever.   You don’t have to worry about my support.  The person who ends our special relationship is going to be you.  And you will end it.  There’s more than ten years left on your mortgage, you’re not going to want to keep inviting me inside your home that whole time.  Even if things don’t work out with you and Red there’ll be another man or something.  You need to think of an exit strategy.”

There was so much there to digest that Ela didn’t know how to feel about it.  “You wouldn’t mind though if I dated Red while remaining your concubine?”

“Why should I mind?  You’re not my wife.  I’m free to see other people and so are you.  I want you to be yourself completely.”

“You’re not going to tell him are you?”

“Me?”  Blue shook his head.  “Of course I’m not going to tell him.  You are.  Something like this, he’ll figure it out eventually.  You need to end it with me or end with him or tell him the truth.  If the truth comes from you then he might accept it.  If he discovers the truth on his own he’ll hate you forever.”

“If I tell him the truth he might still hate me.”

“He might.”  Blue shrugged.  “That would be his loss though.  Plus your situation wouldn’t be complicated anymore.”

Ela wanted to hit Blue but she found herself laughing instead.  “No, that would be simple then.”

Blue smiled.  “Do you have a new poem for me?”

Between talking to Red on the phone and coming to the party Ela had picked out a new poem to learn for Blue.  She hadn’t made any effort to memorize it yet she found she knew it already.

"Don’t hide your heart but reveal it,

So that might be revealed,

And I might accept what I am capable of."

“Splendid.”  Blue commented.  “See you inside.”  Blue started to go back inside but he turned to Ela again.  “One more thing.  A couple weeks ago Red was supposed to be on call, to be available to substitute in case another teacher was ill.  Except he went to Germany.  If he does something like that again he’s fired.  Try to keep your boyfriend in line.”  Then he went back to the party.  The word boyfriend ran through Ela’s mind.  It had been a long time since she’d called anyone her boyfriend.  

Ela wasn’t alone long on the balcony.   “Is it my turn with the artist now?”

She turned to see Red.  “Yes, it’s your turn.” Ela answered in the most serious tone she could muster.

“That painting was what you’ve been working on then?”  Ela simply nodded her head in reply.  “And Black invited you to an unveiling of your work of art but you declined.  Instead you accompanied me to a party for English Accelerated staff, which just happened to be the same party.”

“So it would seem.”

“Small world.”

“Small city.”  From where they were standing Izmir went as far as the eye could see.  If you could see over the hills in the distance you’d see it keep on going.  Yet in some ways it felt like a much smaller place.

“I had two comments about the painting.”  Red rolled the ice in his drink as he spoke.  “The first was that it vaguely reminded me of a Hieronymus Bosch painting.”

“In a sideways kind of manner?”

Red smiled.  “Yes, exactly.  The second was that you killed Red.”

“He might have lived.”

“No, I don’t think so.  He’s dead.”

“Maybe.  Does that bother you?”

“It doesn’t bother me as long as you restrict your murdering to the canvas.”

Ela pretended like she was considering his request.  “I suppose I could do that.”  She teased.  Red stepped closer to Ela and placed something in her hand.  When she opened her hand she saw that it was the old Ottoman coin he’d found in Balçova Thermal.  “Your magic coin?”

“I want you to have it.”  Red told her.

“I can’t take this.  You’ve been looking for so long for a piece of magic.”

“I found a stronger magic.”

“What?”

“You really need to ask?”

No, Ela didn’t need to ask.  “Red I… there are things about me…”

“I know.”

Ela looked at him with uncertainty “What do you know?”

“I know we need to have a talk.  To share secrets.  You have things you’ve held back, that’s clear.  I have things I’ve kept to myself as well.”

“You have secrets?”  Ela said somewhat incredulously.  It was hardly possible for him to have secrets on the same level as she did.

  “I’m not the open book you believe me to be.  We’ll both share, not tonight though, not here.  Tonight you are the celebrated artist and I am the man that every other man in the party wishes he could be.”  With that said he leaned in and kissed her.  The kiss made things simpler.  She wasn’t just helping him find magic; she wasn’t just his friend or someone who had once given him a total body massage.  She was his girlfriend.  When she broke off the kiss she looked through the glass balcony door and it seemed to her that every eye in the party was on them.  She also felt that Red was right, every man wanted to be where he was at that moment.

She kissed him again.