In Over Her Head by Elsie Russell - Parnasse.com

ENSO
February. Ula stood in the door wearing an oatmeal jellaba with
bits of hay woven into the cloth and cradling in her arms a small metal
suitcase on top of which rested a stack of digital prints.
"Hi, c'mon in, have some tea? How was the Nile? Isn't that
thing scratchy?"
"Lovely, not at all, I have a silk caftan underneath. I brought
you some photos of our trip."
Nefertiti settled down in the middle of the futon with the
briefcase and photos on her lap, and handed the photos one by one to
Penny, politely, just as she had the X-rays, so long ago, it seemed.
There he was in desert khakis before the pyramids, blinking into
the sun. With Ula in that jellaba, next to the Sphinx. Drinking mint tea
in gold filigree glasses against a tessellated tile background that
reminded Penny of his crazy tie. A camel sneered down at Ula's camera
in the same way that Ula looked at everybody. His face, dark, inside a
café, the left side lost in the background, only the white of his eye
burned through the obscurity, and the ghastliest grin just for the
camera.
"Can I have this one?"
"Sure, Penny, take whole set, I have 'em all on the hard drive."
"Can you Email me this image, hi-res?"
"I took it like your X-man's, in the chiaroscuro. You'd hardly
know. Any way, he's in Mexico now, getting it fixed. Thank god he still
has the eye, and he looks so happy, don't you think?" Ula handed her
the briefcase. "Oh, and he wanted you to have this."
Penny opened it. Safely encased in gun foam was the Madonna.
Penny bit her lip.
"Thanks Ula, I'm glad you had a good time. I have to get back
to work now, okay?"
"Sure, Penny, it's good to be back." She kissed her quickly on
one cheek, American style.
Penny decided to hang the painting over the futon, where the
two postcards were taped. Just as she hammered in her nail, a message
chimed in.
The painting looked like stolen goods on that bumpy white
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