Patina by E. W. Farnsworth
For three hundred years Poseidon, Proteus, Io and the sea creatures had formed the green-and-white, sculptural group in the fountain. The curator had importuned her antiquities director to submit the grant application, but he took the credit for the award.
So, for three months the cleaning crew removed the primeval crust covering the gleaming bronze. Simultaneously, the director took a fancy to his curator.
They lunched Thursdays at the restaurant across the piazza from the fountain, making the occasion their weekly inspection though they were increasingly interested in discovering each other. She did her hair differently each time, careful to maintain her tresses’ auburn glow.
As the statues were revealed, the souls of the man and woman became bare. They laughed as they shared their stories. She noticed that his ring stone was inscribed with a psi, the Greek trident. He saw her eyes flash with delight like Io in the fountain on her bull.
The bronze statuary stood free on schedule. At the ceremony of the statues’ re-dedication, dignitaries orated while the director and the curator stood aside and took modest bows.
The mayor gave a sobering memento for the occasion: “Today our gathering signifies a new beginning for this art. In another three hundred years, some other group will perform all this again.”
The curator inclined her head as the director smiled at his fiancé, wondering why he had not earlier seen the resemblance. Both the bull Io was riding and the girl’s ring flashed in the sunshine.
E. W. Farnsworth is widely published online and in print.
Illustration – Aphrodite © by Dr. Charlene S. Engel – charlenestantengel.com.
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