The Case of The Perplexed Painting

The Hospital

"My name is Simon Blink," I told the heavy set goon standing in front of me. "I demand to see my uncle."

"Take it easy, kid," he said. "You will be able to see him as soon as the detectives are through questioning him."

I paced on the white tile floor of the hospital as I waited for the chance to see my Uncle Merton.

After watching me move back-and-forth down the hallway for the thirteenth time, the officer standing in front of the door asked me, "Do you have any proof you are Merton Blink's nephew?"

I pulled out my wallet and showed him my ID. "Here," I spat at him. "You will be able to see plain as day that we share the same last name."

He took it in his fat fingers and stared at it for a few seconds before dropping it onto the floor. I bent down to pick it up. I couldn't help but notice his calves were half the size of his arms. It was obvious someone was skipping leg day, but I didn't comment. Instead, I asked, "So, can you tell me what exactly happened to my uncle?"

"All I can tell you is he's got a really bad headache." He raised an eyebrow and shot a question in my direction. "Say, how old are you, kid?"

"I'm seventeen," I said with pride, even though there was nothing to be prideful about being seventeen. After all, I could drink, I couldn't smoke, and I couldn't vote." Why does your uncle mean so much to you?"

"He was the only man I ever looked up to," I started to tell him. "My old man was a cynic who never did anything with his life. All he did was go to work and come home. He wanted me to be like him; go to work, come home, and stay there. My uncle was the opposite. He saw the good in people, the good in the world. He traveled the world. He experienced life and he made it an adventure."

Not even a second after I had finished speaking, the door opened and a man in a bald man with a black beard wearing a gray suit came walking through the door. He took one look at me and asked, "Who are you?"

The cop, who had been preventing me from seeing my uncle, spoke for me. "This is Simon Blink," he said as if he knew me personally. "He is Merton Blink's nephew."

He looked me up and down before letting out a sigh. "Well, you better go in there and say your goodbye's, kid. He doesn't have much longer."I jumped past them and sprinted towards my uncle's bed. Kneeling beside it, I called out his name a few times, but all he did was groan. When I told him it was Simon, he repeated my name a few times before he passed away.