"Who's your friend?" she asked in a voice proportionate to her size, which was about a foot.
Willy looked at his hands. "Just a friend." Turning to me he said imploringly, "You did believe me, didn't you, Jim?"
I felt like asking him what the hell difference it made whether or not I'd believed him, but I merely swallowed and cleared my throat. I worked my jaws. I took the cigarette from my mouth and looking at it, then at my hand, moving it back and forth to adjust the focus. I didn't want to do any thinking about it because I knew I'd be scared senseless by the conclusions. So I made my mind a throbbing blank and to the cigarette said the first thing that popped into my head.
"She's pretty."
The girl smiled coyly and seated herself on the blank layout pad.
"Of course I'm pretty," she said. "I'm Willy's ideal. He wouldn't have drawn me if I weren't." She blinked her eyes demurely.
Willy just sat there looking woebegone, so I went along with it.
"What's your name?"
"Red."
It fitted. The first basic had gone into her hair. I felt myself beginning to twitch. The reaction was setting in again. I found myself wishing that Willy would do something, and not just sit there with his jaw drooping to the floor. I wondered if he could erase her with his dough rubber. I clung to that thought because it seemed funny. I started to laugh. The girl pouted. Willy looked up at me and frowned.