The Sculptor and Cleopatra

I scraped away at the fine details of the scale model I was working on. The clay was forgiving and easy to shape. Each tiny peck at the model brought more and more life to it. It was meant to be the founder of a town somewhere out west, somewhere I’ve never been. I don’t travel far from Ann Arbor. Mostly because my bronze and stone studio is here. I’ve made a unique living designing statuary for millionaires and municipalities. This one was to end in bronze, but first, I had to make a clay model for inspiration. It always starts with clay.

My forehead began to sweat. I never sweat with this work anymore. It wasn’t hot. What was going on? Was I nervous? I’d done this hundreds of times, enough not to sweat over a clay model. My hand began to twitch oddly and I accidentally gouged the nose off the model. I sat back and breathed. “What the hell?” I said to the empty studio. This was not right. I never screw up my models this bad. I began to cry. Oh God.

I set my tools down, hands shaking. I dialed my best friend, Nissa, and put her on speaker.

“Edmonia, dahling,” she said in a fake accent.

“My hands twitched, I ruined my model, and then I cried,” I said.

“Oh dear. Babe, it’s nearly ten pm and you’re still at your studio? I think not having a life is finally catching up with you.”

“Sure, you say that, but you’re just mad I didn’t go to the soiree last night,” I said. Nissa worked development for the big art museum in Detroit.. She was always hobnobbing.

“Last night? That was two weeks ago! Also, you’ve ditched me the last four times I’ve asked you to come out with me, but I’m not counting,” Nissa admonished. “No, honey, you need something bigger than a museum fundraising party. You need a vacation.”

I sighed. I haven't taken a vacation since I started my studio. Of course, everything would fall apart while I was gone. That’s the fear of all business owners. But, I did just ruin ten hours of work. So, things were kind of already falling apart.

“Hello?” Nissa asked. I guess I’d been quiet for a while.

“Sorry. You’re right. Where are we going to go?” I asked hopefully.

“I’m sorry, Edmonia, but I just used all my vacation on a trip to Puerto Rico with Vicente. We got to see his family and get some sun. It was beautiful.”

“Damn,” I said. I was really hoping we could make it a girl’s trip. “Well, I’ve always wanted to see Northampton in Massachusetts. I’ve always heard it’s super lesbian friendly. It’s been a long time since I’ve had any night time activity if you know what I mean…”

“There you go! Go to Massachusetts and get your gay on, girl! Oh, but wait. It’s the middle of February. It’s going to be cold as hell,” Nissa said.

“I’ve always liked winter wonderlands, and besides, I’m looking to heat things up anyway,” I said.

“I’ll leave you to the cold then,” Nissa teased.

“Should I really be doing this? I’m not going to get anything done while I’m away,” I worried.

“Yes!” Nissa shouted, “Leave tomorrow. Don’t call me again until you’re in Massachusetts!” She hung up.

Well, I guess that settled it.

Most of a day later, I was pulling into the aptly named “New Beginnings” bed and breakfast parking lot just outside of Northampton. It was a quaint building built to look like a colonial style house, but with seven total rooms for rent. By the time I was settled in, it was already time for dinner. So I headed downtown and hit up one of the local restaurants. After eating, I took a walk around to survey the options for nightlife.

I remembered from my research at home that there weren’t any bars or clubs that were dubbed gay or lesbian in town, but that everything in the town is lgbtqia+ friendly, and with the population being what it is, there’s bound to be people like me all over. Luckily it wasn’t snowing yet, and I had an easy time walking around town in my jeans and winter coat.

Eventually I found a dive bar literally just up my alley. There was a sign for it at the end of the alley pointing down between some old brick buildings. It was called “Oscura,” and the name fit. The lighting was so dim, I could hardly see anything. There were plenty of dive bars in Ann Arbor, but it was my dream to have a drink at one here, and seduce a lady down on her luck.

I hung up my coat and hat, and took a seat at the bar. I wore my lesbian pride bracelet for the day so that I could communicate loud and clear that it was okay for women to approach me. The music sounded like a sort of slow, New Orleans style Jazz. I was really digging the vibe, so I decided to have a few drinks.

I ended up making conversation with a sixty year old man that was sitting next to me. I told him that I was from Ann Arbor, Michigan, and he said he’d served in the army and was stationed in Battle Creek. We talked for nearly an hour, and I don’t know if it was because I was talking to a man or not, but nobody approached me the entire night.

Ray was a sweetheart, but I told him I’d have to leave for the night. He noticed my bracelet and told me his niece was gay, and that she was probably about my age, that’d I’d probably eventually see her around town, usually with her nose in a book.

I set out into the night. It was snowing enough to make it hard to see. By this time I was feeling a bit sorry for myself having not talked to a single woman the entire night. I decided to take the long route back to my rental car. I made my way past a large stone church. It was lit by ground lights and the snow flurried through the beams as it made its way to the ground. I looked up and noticed that the gorgeous stained glass windows were lit from inside. I could hear the sounds of the choir singing inside. The loneliness hit me then. I thought of all the people in the church with their lives and families, and how I was shut out in the snow here by myself. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and I felt self-conscious. I wrapped my arms close, pulled my scarf tight, and took off toward my car.

The last day of my trip, after striking out on talking to anyone the entire trip, I decided to forgo looking for company, and instead go shopping. I was just exiting a trendy hipsterish clothes shop with some new skinny jeans when I saw a cute girl across the street with her face in a book. Her skin was the exact shade of brown as Ray’s, and I couldn’t help but think it might be his niece. So, I sort of ran across the street and nearly got hit by a car. I saw her walk into a bookstore that was halfway down a hill. There was a giant black bird on the sign, and it was aptly named “The Rook.”

I entered the bookstore and was washed in the lovely scent of old books and mildew. The place was a maze of bookshelves all filled with well-loved books. I wandered about the place until I finally found her, fittingly, in the fine arts section. She had her head tilted sideways and was reading the titles, scanning them with her index finger.

“You know, I might be in some of those books,” I said and immediately regretted my confidence.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, sorry, I mean, I’m a sculptor and I make statues for large corporations and cities.”

“Fascinating…” she said, clearly unimpressed.

“I’m sorry, that came out wrong. I was talking to a man named Ray last night and he mentioned he had a niece that liked books, and I was wondering if you might be her?” I asked.

“You talked to Uncle Ray?”

“Yeah, at Oscura. He’s a really sweet man.”

“He told you I was gay?”

“Um,” I stammered.

“He always tells people I’m gay.” She rolled her eyes.

“He did actually,” I laughed.

“Figures,” she smiled. Her gaze lit upon my bracelet then her eyes met mine. “What’s your name?”

“Edmonia. You?”

“Cleopatra, but you can call me Cleo. Yes, it’s my real name,” I must’ve cocked an eyebrow. She nodded toward the door, “Let’s go somewhere we can talk, Edmonia.“

“Okay,” I followed as she walked us down the street toward a little hole in the wall coffee shop. We took a seat near the back of the shop which was only slightly wider than an alleyway. It afforded us quite a lot of privacy as the counter and almost everyone else were nearly twenty feet away.

“Where are you from, Edmonia?” Cleo asked.

“I’m on vacation here from Ann Arbor, Michigan,” I said, placing my shopping bags next to me.

“You said you were a sculptor?” she asked.

“Yes, I design bronze and stone statues. In fact, I did cast one for a small town out East in Massachusetts. It was a civil rights memorial. What do you do?” I sipped my coffee.

“I’m a relationship counselor, actually. A tragically single one.” She smiled.

“Not taking your own advice?” I joked.

“Do as I say, not as I do,” she said and shook her head.

“If it helps, I’m habitually single as well. Too much time in the studio for me.”

“So,” she sipped her tea, “what are you looking for in your vacation?”

You, I thought. I said “I’m not really sure. I messed up a model I was working on, and my emotions kind of went all over the place. So, my friend told me I needed a break. She was right. I looked up ‘lesbian havens’ on the Internet and found Northampton. I’ve always been meaning to visit and mingle.”

Cleo was rubbing her index finger in a circle on the lip of her cup. It was very distracting. “Well, so far you’ve been able to mingle with Uncle Ray.” She laughed.

“I know, right? Not that he’s not lovely, but I imagined the lesbian haven to have more, well, lesbians,” I said.

“Oh, they’re here. They’re just all dating each other and don’t really go out. What are you looking for in a relationship?” She asked.

“Analyzing me now?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Sorry, it’s a perk of the profession.”

“Well, I haven’t really thought about it much, to be honest. I haven’t had the time.”

“That’s unfortunate,” she said smiling. “It sounds like you’re in love with your art.”

“That could very well be true, but my medium isn’t warm blooded. Not fun to cuddle with marble. Besides, most of my sculptures are male, unfortunately.”

“Is that hard, sculpting the male figure? No pun intended.” She smiled.

I laughed, “You’d think so, but I lived in a house with three brothers. Changed a lot of diapers as the oldest of the four of us. Plus there are models I work with, most of them gay too. How about you? Is it hard to be a single relationship counselor?”

“It has its moments. Mainly, it just comes down to being nice to each other and respecting one another. People have so much trouble with that. That’s why I read so much though. It’s a bit of escapism.”

“Yeah, your uncle said I’d probably see you with your face in a book. It was oddly prophetic.”

“He knows me well. Do you read? Please say you do.”

I smiled, “I like to read at night before bed. Usually something to do with the subject I’m working on. Not a lot of fiction. Let me guess, you read romance?”

“You might think that, but I tend to avoid the stuff because of how unrealistic it is. Most of it is just mass market drivel. I like to read far future, hard sci-fi.”

“Hard as in difficult? What does that mean?” I asked.

“No no,” she laughed, “just like heavy future technology, based on scientific facts and theories.”

“Oh that makes sense. What do you like about it?”

“Well, in order to imagine humanity that far in the future it takes a great amount of hope. Sci-fi writers really believe in the human race if they think they can get beyond their petty differences and actually traverse the stars. Actually…” she reached into her purse and pulled out a small paperback. “Here, you can have this. It’s one of my favorite novels, but I have a few copies at home.” She held it out.

“Are you sure?” I started to reach out, but she took back the book at the last second. “Oh, sorry.”

“No no, you can still have it,” she opened to the first page and wrote something on the back of the cover. “My name and number.”

“Oh, thanks! Let me just text you right now so you have mine too.” I texted her a quick “Hi, this is Edmonia.”

Her phone made a zen bell noise from her purse. “Great, now just don’t forget me when you get back to Michigan,” she said.

“That’s silly. You and uncle Ray are the only people I’ve interacted with on this whole trip,” I laughed.

Cleo looked at her watch, “It’s almost lunch time, do you want to grab something with me before you get ready to leave?”

“That would be great!”

I had lunch with Cleo and then went back to the B&B to get my things around for the trip home.

Cleo and I texted a bit back and forth on my flight back, and when I got home I was completely beat. So, I just went to bed. The next morning I called Nissa. “Hey doll!”

“Hey honey, did you get any action in Massachusetts?” Nissa asked.

“Well, not really, but I did have a romantic encounter with a relationship therapist.”

“Well that should be useful in the future when your relationship inevitably falls apart.”

“Hey now, we don’t even have a relationship yet, but things are looking pretty good for something long distance maybe…maybe?”

“It wasn’t the hot and steamy that you were looking for, but it sounds like you found what you needed to find out there!” she said.

I put my phone on speaker and started smoothing out the model I had dropped a week ago. A fresh start sounded great at this moment. “Yeah, It was looking pretty grim for a while out there, but serendipity stepped in on the last day of the trip.”

“Is that her name, Serendipity?” Nissa asked.

“Hah, no. It’s actually Cleopatra.”

“Oh boy. Well, don’t let her be the downfall of the Roman empire, hun.”

“I promised I’d call her this morning, so I’ll let you go. Thanks for getting me out of here, Nissa.”

“You’re welcome, as always. Later, doll!”

“Buh bye!”

I hung up my phone and dialed Cleo. “Hey there stranger!”