Camus Crosses The Street, parts 862 - 865

862. Here was this argument again between the Duck and Buboni about aspects of art that I knew nothing about. Was it true that someone had actually paid 40 million dollars for an oil painting once? I hardly believed it but perhaps it was so. And if they had, how could you explain it in a way that an ordinary person like myself could make sense out of it. Ten thousand perhaps but 40 million? I thought it was just an example of Buboni's exaggerations.

863. But speaking of  Buboni, I continued to wonder if I was correct about his being attracted to Aunt Jemima and I watched for any indication that would confirm my suspicions.

864. You will remember all of the things we discovered about him when we looked him up on Google, about his academic history and the denouement of his career. We knew about his childhood and his color acuity and how he 'by accident' started to be interested in art history. But we knew nothing about the man's emotional life. Did he even have a wife, for instance? Was he divorced? 

865. Was he the victim of a torrid love affair, and was he suffering through those many many years that it takes one to get over a deep all consuming love? His ugly visage did not indicate that possibility, but one never knows. Wondering about him in this way I blurted out an inappropriate question. "Tell me Buboni?" I said "Have you ever been in love?"