Christy’s sculpture was ready to come out of the mold that evening. We met Siobhan at the studio, along with punk girl and the tall guy. The heat in the room was stifling. It helped the marble mixture cure faster, but it was a delicate balance. Cure too quickly and the mixture might crack; too slowly and it wouldn’t be ready in time for the exhibition. Fortunately, Siobhan had years of experience with the process.
We used the ceiling-rail winch to turn the entire box over. It weighed several hundred pounds, so it took all of us to keep it stable. One slip and
countless hours of work would turn into large chunks of marble debris. Once we set it on a dolly, I used a hammer and pry bar to detach the base. Then I hauled on the winch and lifted the box off the mold. The sloped sides released the pink material with a soft whoosh.
I pushed the empty box to the side and lowered it to the floor. The three artists ringed the mold like senators around Julius Caesar. Their knives flashed as they moved in for the kill. I laughed to myself at the mental image.
Siobhan joined me and watched silently.
“Thanks for all your help,” she said eventually. Her Irish brogue made her sound like a character from a movie. “She couldn’t have done it without you.”
I nodded silently.
“You’re her muse. I hope you know that.”
“I do.”
“And she’s falling in love with you.” She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. “But you knew that too, didn’t you?”
“The feeling’s mutual.”
“I thought it might be. I hope you don’t mind, but I talked to Laszlo…
Professor Joska.”
I looked at her in surprise.
“He says
“Professor Joska thinks of me as his protégé?”
“Oh, sure. He’s right proud of you, he is.” She leaned close, and her eyes twinkled. “Don’t tell him I told you.”
“I won’t.”
We watched for a while longer, until the three artists had cut away most of the mold material.
The marble sculpture gleamed in the lights from above, but it was studded with tags and ridges where the seams of the mold had been. It also had little pink bits of the stuff where the release agent hadn’t entirely done its job.
“Time to get to work with the tools,” Siobhan said. She handed me a filter mask and safety goggles. “Let’s get to it.”
I donned the gear as the others did the same. Siobhan passed out squishy yellow earplugs as well. I rolled them up and shoved them into my ears. Then I pulled on a pair of leather work gloves and accepted an angle grinder from
punk girl. She looked at me through her goggles and nodded once in tacit approval.
We surrounded the sculpture like a school of alien piranhas. The angle grinders whined and marble dust flew, and we worked for several hours, until almost midnight. Christy had plenty of detail work left to do, and she had a problem to fix where the mold material had torn during casting, but the statue was free of studs, ridges, and mold material.
We stood back and surveyed the sculpture. We were all covered in white marble dust, with flesh-colored patches where the goggles and masks had protected us. We were dirty, tired, and sore, but I’d never seen five happier people in my life.
Christy and I said goodnight and thanked the others. We probably looked like ghosts as we walked home, because neither of us wanted to get our coats dirty with dust. Wren had left us a note on the dining room table.
“I don’t know about you,” I said, “but all I really want is a shower and bed.”
“I don’t even care if it’s separate or not. I’m too tired to be a proper young lady.”
“You can say that again.”
“I don’t even care if it’s separate or not,” she repeated with a grin.
“Maybe you’re not so tired after all?”
“I’m tired, not dead.”
We headed upstairs. I threw my dusty clothes in the corner of my bedroom and didn’t bother to cover up as I climbed the stairs to the third floor. I didn’t relish the idea of a cold shower, especially after a cold walk home without my coat, but I didn’t want to deny Christy the hot water.
I showered as quickly as I could, but the marble dust was stubborn stuff. I had to wash my hair twice, and I still felt the fine grit when I ran my fingers through it. I was shivering by the time I finished and dried off. I didn’t even bother to wrap the towel around my waist. I simply threw it over my shoulder
and headed down to the second floor.
