Garden of Earthly Delights

Excerpt From The Black Echo

     She passed closely by him in the small space between the refrigerator and counter and moved out into the hallway.  He could smell her hair as she went by. An apple scent, he thought.  He noticed that she was looking at the print hanging on the wall opposite the mirror in the hallway.  It was in three separate framed sections and was a print of a fifteenth-century painting called 'The Garden of Delights'. The painter was a Dutchman.
     "Hieronymus Bosch," she said as she studied the nightmarish landscape of the painting. "When I saw that was your full name I wondered if —"
     "No relation," he said. "My mother, she just liked his stuff. I guess 'cause of the last name. She sent that print to me once.  Said in the note that it reminded her of L.A. All the crazy people. My foster parents . . . they didn't like it, but I kept it for a lot of years. Had it hanging there as long as I've had this place."
     "But you like to be called Harry."
     "Yeah, I like Harry."
   "Good night, Harry. Thanks for the beer."
   "Good night, Eleanor…Thanks for the company."