Image from Art Institute of Chicago, CC0 Public Domain<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\u201cAre\nyou sure about that?\u201d I asked. \u201cYou can afford one that looks more impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll\ndo for me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then\nshe dragged me along the street to find a florist, turned down the first\nbecause they had no white roses, but a hundred yards further saw some in a\nwindow and bought a bundle of five.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\nhave only two glasses in the hotel room,\u201d I said. \u201cWe\u2019ll have to ask for\nanother to stand them in water.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\u2019s\nnot important. Let\u2019s get back to the car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ten\nminutes later we were back on the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo\nyou mind if we take a diversion?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere\nto?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat\nplace we did the trail walk yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSomething\nI want to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nsensed that she wasn\u2019t ready to say more, felt confused but remembered the spot\nwas just ten minutes off the main road, so I did as asked. We had been together\nfor eighteen years \u2013 twice as long as she had with her late husband \u2013 and I\ncould spot the rare occasions when it was better to just let her do whatever\nshe wanted to do. When we parked the car she took the skull and roses from the\nback and led me towards to the trail we had walked the day before, and I began\nto think this was going to be something for her Instagram account. A hundred\nyards on she stepped off the path, up a scrub filled slope towards the splintered\nwalls of white rock close to the trail. I thought the spot resembled those in a\ncouple of the O\u2019Keeffe paintings we had seen in the gallery in Santa Fe, the\nartist\u2019s meditations on the local landscape, and that Jane wanted to place\nherself in a similar picture. I got it; she was no flake but had a taste for the\nvaguely mystical, stuff that just hinted at something beyond what you could\nsee. She took a few steps beside the rock to a spot where it had fractured,\nleaving a small gap into a dark vertical crevice, placed the skull and roses on\nthe ground then moved her fingers over the rock\u2019s surface. I took out my phone\nand turned on the camera.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\ngoing to hold it up for the pic?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead\nshe examined a point in the crevice just above with her waist, then picked up\nthe skull to tilt its jaws inside and wedge the rest into the gap, not quite\nstraight but deep enough for it to stay fixed \u2013 at least for a while. Then she\ntook two of the roses, pushed the stem of one into a crack in the forehead and\ntook minute to fix the other into the lower part of the jaw. She stood back and\nstared at it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\nwant to stand beside it for the photo?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo.\nI don\u2019t want a photo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\nmade me wonder for the first time if she had a touch of crazy in her head. She\nmoved back a little further and continued to stare, like she was seeing\nsomething other than the remnants of a dead steer. I moved up to stand beside\nher, wanting to share in it. I supposed there was something in life sprouting\nfrom death, but knew it wouldn\u2019t be long before the roses dried out and died. A\nglance at Jane told me it meant more to her. I stepped back a little and waited\nfor a while, letting my gaze drift across the rock and up to the sky, enjoying\nthe sun parched grandeur of the scene. Footsteps and quiet voices moved behind\nus then stopped. I turned to see two walkers who had noticed the skull with\nroses in the rock, briefly intrigued but not asking, then responding to my\nsmile and shrug with raised hands and their own smiles before moving on. Jane\nspoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\nwill take a photo, but I don\u2019t want to be in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\ntook out her own phone, raised it with both hands towards the skull, took one\npicture and returned it to her pocket. Then she went back to the rock, placed\nher fingers on the sides of the head and dipped her face towards it. I didn\u2019t\nhear her say anything but it looked like something between a prayer and a kiss.\nThen she came back towards me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\ncan go now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAre\nyou going to leave that there?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes.\nI hope you don\u2019t mind the cost, but that\u2019s why I bought the skull cheap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s your money, but what was that about?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s\nget back to the car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once\nthere she leaned back against its door and began to check her phone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere\u2019s\na mild signal. I hope this can make it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\ntapped its screen and I guessed she was using its web browser. It took almost a\nminute before she seemed to find what she wanted, then she looked back at me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\nknow, that was a little crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\nwon\u2019t argue with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook\nat this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\nshowed me the screen, a small copy of a painting, a cow\u2019s head with two roses\nplaced close to the points she had found on the real skull.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou\nwanted to recreate that picture?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\ndid. It\u2019s called Cow\u2019s Skull with Calico Roses<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nI\ncould see the similarity in style with paintings we had seen in the gallery,\nthe clean lines and sparse colours, conveying the sense the sense of intense\ndry heat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t\nthink I noticed that one yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s\nnot there. It\u2019s in the Art Institute of Chicago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\nweight dropped. I knew what had happened there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs\nthis something to do with Greg?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\nnodded. A second later I realised what it was about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWas\nhe looking at that picture when it happened?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNear\nenough. He stepped away from it, turned and said \u2018I\u2019d have that on the wall\u2019.\nThen he clutched his chest, his face twisted and he went down. He was dead by\nthe time the paramedics got to him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A\nlong silence hung between us. I had known that he died in the museum but not\nthat detail. A sad smile crossed Jane\u2019s face and then, something I had only\nseen when her father died, a tear ran down her cheek. I placed my arms around\nher and hugged. It was almost a minute before she spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t\nask me to explain why I did that. There was something crazy in it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah,\ncrazy but human. When did you get the idea?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEarlier\ntoday, in the gallery. Wasn\u2019t sure if I would do it until we left the O\u2019Keeffe\nhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo\nyou feel better for doing it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\nwill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She\nlooked up at me and wiped her eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLet\u2019s\nget back in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\ngot inside and sat. I touched her hand and she smiled, the sadness in her face\nfading. It was when I turned on the engine that she leaned across and kissed\nme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\ngot lucky twice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019ve\nbeen happy to get lucky once.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It surprised me that Jane wanted to buy a cow\u2019s skull. Dead animals as ornaments weren\u2019t her style, but she seemed intent on the idea and I guessed that she wanted a souvenir of the whole brushwood desert and big sky atmosphere of New Mexico. I felt neutral about it, had noticed the skulls in … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-393","page","type-page","status-publish"],"yoast_head":"\nCow's Skull and Calico Roses O'Keeffe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Short story about a strange ritual in the New Mexico desert. Inspired by a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cow's Skull and Calico Roses O'Keeffe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Short story about a strange ritual in the New Mexico desert. Inspired by a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MARK SAY\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-16T07:25:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/\",\"name\":\"Cow's Skull and Calico Roses O'Keeffe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-14T16:07:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-16T07:25:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"Short story about a strange ritual in the New Mexico desert. Inspired by a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cow\u2019s Skull with Calico Roses\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/\",\"name\":\"MARK SAY\",\"description\":\"WRITER\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cow's Skull and Calico Roses O'Keeffe","description":"Short story about a strange ritual in the New Mexico desert. Inspired by a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cow's Skull and Calico Roses O'Keeffe","og_description":"Short story about a strange ritual in the New Mexico desert. Inspired by a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.","og_url":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/","og_site_name":"MARK SAY","article_modified_time":"2022-09-16T07:25:11+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/","url":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/","name":"Cow's Skull and Calico Roses O'Keeffe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-14T16:07:06+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-16T07:25:11+00:00","description":"Short story about a strange ritual in the New Mexico desert. Inspired by a painting by Georgia O'Keeffe.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/cows-skull-with-calico-roses\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cow\u2019s Skull with Calico Roses"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/","name":"MARK SAY","description":"WRITER","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/393\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/marksaywriter.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Cows-Skull-with-Calico-Roses-Art-Institute-of-Chicago-CC0-Public-Domain-Designation.jpg\")