Another Morbid piece, this one focusing on the disappointments of romantic love. Oscar had met Loretta on a blind date arranged by his fraternity at Johns Hopkins. She was one of a new breed of women-- fearless, defiant, and composed of significant portions of several other species.

Oscar was fascinated by her, for she was unlike anyone he had ever known, although he vaguely remembered something familiar about her wings from a veterinary anatomy class. Loretta, for her part, was looking for a man who could see past her differentness, be a father to her children and/or cubs, and who might also be good with a currycomb.

Alas, their love was not to be. Repulsed in public, they took to meeting in the hills high above the medical school, where Oscar felt free to reveal his exhibitionism and Loretta could pick off a jackrabbit for lunch without wondering what others might think. Their love was true, but it was not meant to be. On the fateful evening depicted in the painting, Oscar finally worked up the courage to tell her that he had found someone new, or at any rate assembled from more compatible components. Loretta stared deep into his eyes, not believing what she heard. Then, heaving a deep sigh, she unmanned him with a powerful swipe of her hind paw.
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Acquired in part by a grant from The Moreau Foundation.

 

 

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