“Out of my way!” shouted Umberto.
The painter's assistant charged and bullied his way through the crowd. Some women shouted, some men shrieked, and plenty of things clattered to the ground as the large man barrelled past the onlookers. “What am I even hoping will happen?” he thought to himself as he looked up. “What can I even do?”
Umberto had never been bright as a boy, and his parents had been poor. But he had always been bold and quick to action, so when fate saw him save a man's life down by the riviera one day, he had been rewarded with purpose.
That rescued man was the infamously eccentric artist Vincenzo Albiti, who was today painting a portrait for his patron. The portrait in question was to be of this patron's prized toad, which had an exquisitely rare copper color to it. Umberto had dutifully hauled his master's easel up many flights of stairs to the tall balcony where the painting was to be done. It was no Torre di Arnolfo, but the climb was worthy of his legs.
“The flavor of the light today,” Vincenzo had said, “it must be done here, in this high place.”
As he could be relied upon to do, Umberto forgot one of his master's personal effects in the gondola which brought them, and so was returning on street-level when he paused to take a breath, watch the clouds, and appreciate his lot in life.
This also afforded him an excellent view of the toad as it leapt from its perch by the easel and now plummeted to the streets below.
“Move!” Umberto bellowed once more, and thinking quickly, he snatched the net from a nearby fisherman to use and catch the toad before it could hit the ground.
The net strained the poor creature onto the sun-bleached stone with immaculate, horrifying grace, like a sieve relieving fruit pulp of its juice.
Umberto threw himself at his master's feet when the old painter approached. His chin quivered madly with shame, and his eyes were wet with tears.
Vincenzo Albiti silenced him with a wave. His cheeks slowly curled into a smile which brimmed with pride, and he said in an awe-struck voice, “It's...perfect.”
Evan Davis is an author with an overactive imagination, which explains how he got here and why you're reading this – which is great. His work can be found with Third Flatiron Publishing, The NoSleep Podcast, Flame Tree Publishing, Abyss & Apex Magazine, among others; plus a blog he occasionally updates (thelightofday.blog).
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