smallhobbit

Jim Moriarty looked up from his hotel bed which was currently covered in life-sized prints of Klimt paintings.  “I told you we were going on one of our shopping trips.”

“To Vienna,” Seb agreed.  “Which is why I polished up my German.”

“Indeed, so now you can order both coffee and cake.”

“And white wine, don’t forget.”

“Your linguistic abilities never fail to astound me.”

Seb looked at Jim, not entirely sure whether this was a compliment.  He decided to ignore this point and instead said, “But you haven’t just bought those posters.  You brought them with you.”

“Correct.  Because I think I know which picture I want, but you can never be entirely sure until you see the original hanging on the wall.  So, tomorrow morning we go to the Belvedere and I will make my final selection.  Then tomorrow night I return to make my purchase.  And you switch the poster for the original.”

“Won’t someone notice?”

Jim sighed.  “Of course they will.  But not for a few hours, by which time we will have left Vienna behind.  So I suggest, if you want to make use of your German phrases, you do so in the next twenty-four hours.”

***

Three days later, Jim was happily hanging his new painting in his lounge.  He had considered ‘The Kiss’ but felt it would be a bit showy.  He liked some of the ones which concentrated on flowers, such as ‘The Cottage Garden with Sunflowers’ and ‘Flowering Poppies’ but thought they might be a little over-elaborate for the décor of the room.  In the end he settled for ‘The Schloss Kammer on the Attersee’ which he found both tasteful and restful, and perfectly suited the ambiance he wished to create.