The Alley Behind Ray

Excerpt from the Pulp Logic back files

Filed under: Ray Vogue Schools / Chicago, Illinois

They said he was the last one to leave the school -

But the school had already closed.

He kept painting anyway, dragging his easel out back behind the building, setting up next to the busted steam pipe and a candle that wouldn’t go out.

No degree, no direction, and no rent payment in months.

But the alley didn’t ask questions. It had space.

They said he’d been kicked out of three departments. That he argued with a guest instructor about composition - and giggled too much during figure drawing. No one ever confirmed it. The records office said they’d never heard of him, and the coffee shop he used to loiter in sells typewriters now.

But people remember the paintings.

Always on canvas. Always lit by fire.

A woman with a scarf like smoke.

A cowboy who looked suspiciously like the security guard who worked night shift at the post office next door. One night, he painted a whole series on old train schedules.

He kept saying he was heading west.

He just never said when.

Digital Paint/PS/XP-PEN Illustration by Dennis Line.