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| "Harlequin" by Pablo Picasso, 1915. MoMA. |
"Parents and child rose to leave. Dr. Dreyfus remained seated. His heavy black fountain pen remained on the desk. His diploma from the Sorbonne remained on the wall. And so forth.
'When he was asked by the French government in nineteen thirty-nine how to design parachutists' uniforms for maximum invisibility, the painter Pablo Picasso replied, "Dress them as harlequins."'
The physician paused. 'I don't suppose that means very much to you.'
Mr. Hankshaw looked from the specialist to his wife to his high-top Red Wing work shoes (in which stolen laces had recently been replaced) to the specialist again. He laughed, half in embarrassment and half in irritation. 'Well, shee-ucks, Doc, it sure enough don't.'" (20)
Robbins, Tom. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. New York: Bantam Dell, 1990 [1976].
Robbins working the class divide. How the reputation of Red Wings has changed!
p.s.: "Whatever the origin of the extra hole in her belly, there are unmistakeable signs of gunfire in the woodwork by the closet door. It was there she once shot up half an old pair of sneakers. 'Self-defense,' she pleaded, when her parents complained. 'It was an outlaw tennis shoe.
Billy the Ked.'" (30)