Proctor Cronk At Syracuse, parts 1747 - 1750

 1747. Having their edges use as clothes hooks obscured even the various things hung on the walls. The tops of pictures were used as small shelves for miniature objects. The antler points of a moose held a collection of women’s gloves. Obviously valuable things were mixed up helter-skelter with worthless trash.

1748. There were only three things unencumbered and not being used in any inexplicable way, they were a large double barreled shotgun leaning next to the door jam under a World War 2 bayonet, and an old baseball bat.

1749. There were many paintings and prints hanging on the walls and Proctor discovered that the huge brown print of the coliseum in a wide oak frame could not be sold because it belonged to somebody’s grandfather who had been born someplace or other. He could not purchase the Piranesi print of a prison interior for a similar reason having to do with some other relative.

1750. The Yardman had a few real Russian Icons, as well as several very cheap prints of religious works. The prints were all in that sickly shade of brown used so often for old religious calendars. The icons, which were obviously valuable, were hung in a group next to the cheapest sort of religious images in frames without any glass. Proctor thought to himself, “they are sorted by subject regardless of their value.”

Richard Britell