"TALES OF GHOSTS"
about Love and Death from the Land of Mists
a collection of short stories
in the “Playing Another Reality” series
"BROKEN MIRROR"
9. A PORTRAIT
Arthur fell in love with her at first sight. The girl was very pretty, perhaps even the most beautiful one he had ever painted. They met by chance: he was sitting in front of a cozy restaurant in the city center, as usual, waiting for someone to order him one’s portrait, as she appeared.
Arthur painted the Stranger quickly enough. The customer liked the work, she thanked the artist and left. Why didn’t he dare to stop her then? He didn’t even ask her name! Did she seem too inaccessible to him? Or maybe the girl didn’t exist at all in earthly reality?
Having returned home, Arthur tried to paint the Stranger from memory, but in vain! At first he couldn’t reproduce the magical expression of her eyes, then her smile looked more like a cruel grin, then the roses in her hands seemed too unnatural.
Thus, in the throes of creativity, the artist melted day after day, but the Stranger didn’t get out of his mind. He dreamt about her, she beckoned him, laughed and disappeared. Sometimes it even seemed to Arthur that the girl was secretly watching him from the mirror…
Half a year later, Arthur finally completed his work. The portrait turned out great: the Stranger was about to take a step towards you and ask you to put her roses in a vase.
Having crowned the masterpiece with a worthy frame, Arthur hung the portrait in the most prominent place in the room, on the wall opposite the mirror. It was the best work in his life, and the colleagues, who periodically dropped in to visit him, couldn’t help praising the artist for his skills.
One day Arthur’s Teacher, who had already been famous for a long time and was considered to be a Great Master, came to Arthur too. Noticing the portrait of the Stranger on the wall, the Teacher couldn’t but admit to himself that the work was excellent, and his student had surpassed him in skill, however, he grinned and said aloud sarcastically,
“Indeed, they say in Latin, ‘Qui pingit florem non pingit floris odorem’! These roses have no aromas!”
When the important guest left, Arthur removed the portrait from the wall to destroy it immediately.
“They all flattered me! I will never be able to create anything worthwhile!”
The artist took the portrait out of the frame and furiously tore it into small pieces. At the same moment there was a deafening clang of broken glass – the mirror from the opposite wall crumbled into a thousand fragments, impossible to be put back together even by the greatest Magician.
June 24, 1994