MAGPIE TALE: The Colors!

Our weekly contribution to the Mapie Tales

Ralph Rengdorff was never a fan of art. "It's all to arty," he would say, but when he saw the exhibit Endeavor by Lino Tagliapietra at the Columbus Museum of Art, his head started spinning. "The colors!" he exclaimed.
He got on the phone the second he and Bark Cantrell motored back north to Rocky River. He couldn't wait to tell his wife Lurelle what he had just seen and how it was going to change their lives.

The phone rang for what felt like an eternity until he finally heard Enoch Light playing in the background and finally a dainty voice saying, "Wah, wah dah." It was Lurette, Ralph's youngest, not quite able to form complete words yet, but she just loved to talk on the phone.
"Lurette, can you hand the phone to Mommy?" Mommy and big sis Adele were in the crafts room where they were trying on new matching blouses that Lurelle had made using a Simplicity pattern on her Singer. Smashing and sparkling with just the style of color Ralph wanted to restyle their home. "Lurette, if Mommy's not there, let me talk to Billy."
Billy wasn't there. He was over at Kirk Craven's house. Kirk sure liked art and theater and was so kind to take Kirk cultural events. They had just gone to see a matinee of "Gigi" which Kirk had seen three times already and thought was just smashing. Billy always came back full of vigor and vim after an outing with Kirk, and he always came back freshly showered. That Kirk was one heck of a guy.
Lurelle sometimes wondered why a fellow as handsome and cultured as Kirk never got married. He sure seemed to have a lot of bachelor friends, though. Seemed you'd always find him walking up to some striking gentleman at the train station and introducing himself. "That Kirk never knew a stranger," folks would say.
Just in case anyone got the wrong idea, Lurelle would point out that Kirk did like the ladies. In fact he and his buddy Stretch Johnson were always seen out on the town with Lillian Lushmore. Lillian said she was the luckiest gal in Cleveland to always have two handsome escorts. "Think you'll ever settle down with one of those handsome bachelors?" people would ask. "Settle down? Oh, I don't want those boys to ever settle down," Lillian would say, arching her left eyebrow.

Now that Ralph had fallen for the arts, he was looking forward to discussing it with Lillian. Hey, maybe he might give Kirk a call. Kirk had said for the longest time he would love to take Ralph to see "The Red Shoes".