Trafika Europe 11 - Swiss Delights

Short Fiction

systems to flinch. To say someone “sees the Virgin Mary” is a bit like saying he’s seeing double or has gone mad, but what should we think of someone who never sees her? Just as there are those who see her every now and then, there are also those who never ever see her. For example, some time ago I came across a report from someone the Civil Defense Corps had hired to compile an inventory of all the artworks in a local monastery. This someone actually managed to write, “At the end of the hallway there is a painting that portrays a young mother with a baby on her knee. A peculiarity: there is a golden ring above the woman’s head.” How far might one take this type of vision—or, if you prefer, anti-vision? After all, looking closely enough, that canvas was probably nothing but a bunch of colorful blotches enclosed in an old wooden frame.

307