This was what I agreed to: For exactly one night and one day, I would sit by her corpse, refusing entry to all visitors except Karla and the sister. In exchange, I would inherit enough money to buy a year of time, time all to myself, to paint. To—maybe, finally—paint my own masterwork.
“The Genius and the Devil,” my new story about friendship and envy, creativity and commerce, and the genius of wanting the right things is now online at Catapult Magazine.
