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Show 191 But Hunt put the marten's freedom off. Sean returned. He loved a girl named Sarah! They had met in Chicago and ridden together all the way to the end of Iowa. And now they would write every day! "That's excessive," Leah said. Hunt had to agree. Still, Sean was like some songbird, drunk on fermented berries or fruit. Todd showed his brother the family oil, Sean praised it in a way both Leah and Hunt had been afraid to. "Have you ever been in love, Dad?" Sean asked Hunt. And Leah laughed. Hunt bought more mice. His divorce from the marten got postponed. Did the marten mind? Christmas lights filled the downtown Tucson business area. They swelled all the peripheral shopping malls. Hunt and Lean and the boys went out and bought a tree. "This is our most beautiful tree!" Leah said, happy. Hunt gained back some weight. "You seem better. You seem better these days," Leah said, smiling; "Are you?" Hunt finished the painting of the burning man and sent it off to Suskind. Suskind called him. "I don't think I can sell it," Suskind warned. "Christ, Hunt: when you get bizarre -- you really get bizarre. Yeah: I know what you're gonna say -- 'People catch on fire! It's a fact! It's in the world!'- Fuck it! Hunt: nobody's gonna put some guy on fire over their couch! I don't give a shit how nice the colors are!" Still, the inevitable day came: ten days to Christmas. Hunt had kept the marten as a private reality, and the reality needed to be released. |