The Painter of the Night by James Tate

The Painter of the Night

Someone called in a report that she had 

seen a man painting in the dark over by the 

pond. A police car was dispatched to go in- 

vestigate. The two officers with their big 

flashlights walked all around the pond, but 

found nothing suspicious. Hatcher was the 

younger of the two, and he said to Johnson, 

'What do you think he was painting?' Johnson 

looked bemused and said, 'The dark, stupid. 

What else could he have been painting?' Hatcher, 

a little hurt, said, 'Frogs in the Dark, Lily- 

pads in the Dark, Pond in the Dark. Just as 

many things exist in the dark as they do in 

the light.' Johnson paused, exasperated. Then 

Hatcher added, 'I'd like to see them. Hell, 

I might even buy one. Maybe there's more out 

there than we know. We are the police, after- 

all. We need to know.'