Ecce Homo, Part Two
Fraser glared at Ray. ‘Well, because it’s you, Ray,’ Fraser said in his snottiest tone, tossing the paper down on Ray. ‘Look.’
Ray turned onto his back and held the paper up until the image came into focus. Then he struggled to sit up, saying, ‘Holy shit! That IS me, just aboout.' Ray studied the portrait image again. 'Never wore my hair like that.'
'I dare say you've never had a crown of thorns shoved down on your head, either,' Benton sniped.
'So this artist lived...'
'Around the same time as Shakespeare.'
'Rene Volt-a-buffalo?' Ray asked, squinting, having pronounced the name with a long "a", and accented the "buff" in buffalo.
'Voltabufalo,' Frasier corrected with a flourish: VOHL-teh-BOO-fah-low.
'VOHL-teh-BOO-fah-low,' Ray echoed quietly. 'That's a queer name. What's that mean?'
Benton shrugged. 'Turn bison?'
'Hah!' Ray laughed, 'Like Turnbull!'
And they looked at each other, and each felt a chill down his spine ...