Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)

This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Unicorn Challenge bloghop.

A word-count constrained imagination contest hosted by jenne and ceayr, the prompt is an image and the only limit is ‘tell your story in under 250 words’

Over the entrance: D. Grey ~Portraits, Paintings and Likenesses~

Despite the notional barrier of the open door/uncrossed threshold, tendrils of oil paint, clinging to the desiccated aroma of canvas, reached out towards the man.

To the left, a single blank canvas. In a gallery of portraits, it manifested a temptation rivaling sex, power and the knowledge of good and evil. Our solitary gentleman was touched.

“May we be of service?”

The voice, at once female while showing a glint of a rougher appetite, remained somewhere among the artificial shadows of the empty gallery.

That our protagonist was not startled, nor otherwise concerned, spoke more to his relationship with the world around him than to his capacity for critical thinking, aka (in more prosaic schools of thought) survival instinct.

“As it happens, we’ve had a sitting cancel without notice. If you’d like a portrait done, please come in.”

Stepping over the threshold, the man felt a curious excitement. It was the unformed thrill of the preadolescent upon the first glimpse of life away from the bondage of parental protection. He walked towards the alcove. Within the space, three plush walls defined, stood an easel upon which rested a canvas, un-touched by paint. The old man saw two things and felt a third. To one side a stool. Opposite, but obliquely enough to not be blocked by the easel, a mirror.

Looking into the glass, the man felt the rendering of past regrets and, in the same instant, a hope.