524. "How often I have thought to myself", Aunt Jemima continued, "as I mopped the floors of this big hospital late at night, what masterpieces I could be creating if the floor was not a floor but a huge canvas rolled out from wall to wall, and instead of a bucket of soap and water, I had buckets of paint of all different colors.
525. First I would stick that mop into the red, and throw a huge path of red from the left, all the way to the far wall in a big slash. Then, with the mop still full of red, I would plunge it directly into green, and do a number of rapid staccato splashes in parts of the red stroke, as the red and green are mixing and turning to brown.
526. Then I would put the red mop aside and go directly to the black, and mop up a number of dark ominous strokes in the corner, approaching my red section, but not touching it, leaving slivers of the white canvas floor separating the black from the red. When I was done I would give it a title, the title would be, 'The Hospital at Four AM.' But I would give credit for the title to Giacometti, who did that wonderful piece 'The Palace at 4 AM', do you know it?"
527. "And why,", she said, raising her voice and becoming excited, her brown face flushing. "Because If I could paint big pictures with a mop and bucket, I could live in a palace, instead I have to mop hallways, and empty bed pans. But, it is all relative, and God who looks down on us all knows that my floors are great works of art, no one but Him will ever notice."
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