Francisco and after what seemed an eternity the answer came back from the Curator of Paintings "It's hard to tell much from the photographs of the painting. It's probably a typical "bar-room nude" that was so popular around the turn of the century. You'll have to look is the phone book for a fine arts appraiser; many reputable ones are listed. suspect, however, it is one of those paintings out of favor now, and was worth far more in 1901 than it would be now. Thud. Just another barroom nude. Mike said that was okay. That he didn't want to get murdered over a masterpiece anyway, if it ever got around that he had one.
Mike has been gone not quite a year, but was the painting still there?
A slow swivel of the head revealed that Della was still very much there. Still hanging over the ancient piano. The massive gold frame measures 30" x 50" and a band of cerise velvet runs around it.
Della is lovely and almost demure. Not age, nor the earthquake, nor a lifetime of hanging in smoky saloons has dulled her beauty. Painted as she was, suspended in the heavens with fleecy clouds adrift in the background, she looks too ethereal'- to be just another barroom nude. Could it be that the curator was wrong? Oh well...
You keep remembering little things about Mike. How he kept, by the door, a special counter with nickel and penny candies so the kiddies would come in during the day. How he had a reputation for having the best Socked bar in the county. How he never forgot a name, even 4ien he was well into his 70's.
70's he served brandy Alexander in Coca-Cola glasses. And his penchant for expensive cars his last Silver Mink Rolls Royce convertible "as the only one of its type its type in the United States. And before that he had owned several Jaguars and an Austin-Healy. Mike Padula wasn't always a millionaire. Born near Naples in 1894 he came to America with his parents when he was five. He arrived in Castella in 1919 and got a job as a busboy in the old Castella Crag View Hotel.
Those were the days. Castella wasn't the sleepy little hamlet it is now. It was a thriving town of many businesses - Basham's General Store; Amos' General Store, Hotel and Barber Shop; Lancone's Grocery Store and Service Station; Ammirati's Grocery Store and Boarding House; the Engle Inn Resort. Inn Resort; The Crag View' Resort, and finally Mike's Place.
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