The Forlorn And The Forsaken

    Lois, overcome by boredom, watched the smoke of her cigarette snake upwards into the murky air that surrounded the lights on the ceiling. "How long do we have to keep sitting here, Jim."
    "As long as it takes Hopper to paint the damned picture."
    "I'm getting tired of just sitting here and smoking."
    "You think you're tired?" The waiter chimed in. "Try bending over for an eternity like me. And at my age!"
    "It's no bargain for me either," Jack offered. "'Sit there and look forlorn', Hopper said. How do you look forlorn from the back? I wouldn't even know how to look forlorn from the front. To the best of my knowledge I've never even felt forlorn in my whole life! At least the rest of you are going to have your faces shown."
    "Yes," Lois exclaimed, "just think we're going to be famous!"
    "Famous? You heard what Hopper said. He never divulges the names of his subjects."
    "Well, our faces will be famous then. Sorry, Jack. Well you have a very nice back anyway."
    "Gee thanks."
    "Imagine having people look at us as we are tonight through all the years to come. What will they think of us? Will they try to invent stories to go with our faces? Sorry again, Jack."
    "Don't mention it."
    "Well," the waiter said, "if they make up a story about me I hope they leave out bursitis because mine is really getting to me. When do you think he'll be done? I don't see him out there anymore."
    Jim tried to peer through the reflections in the window. "He said he'd be done around midnight and then he'd come in to pay us. It's after one now, he should have come in...hey, you don't suppose he took a powder on us?"
    "That rat!" Lois threw her cigarette into her coffee cup in disgust. "I've always said never trust an artist."
    "Oh well, at least your faces will be famous."
    "SHUT UP JACK!" Three voices yelled in unison.
    "Sorry."
    "Well," the waiter opined, "at least that answers your question about what people will think when they look at us. They'll think we're a bunch of saps."
    Jim got up to leave. "This tears it! What could possibly make this night worse."
    "Wait until you see the bill I'm going to give you for all that coffee you've been putting away."
    "Well, I'll be darned!"
    "What is it, Jack?"
    "I'm starting to feel forlorn after all."
    "SHUT UP!"