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    “That is exquisite.  Did you make it?”

            “Yes, I did.  I have a small studio at home.”

“And you want to sell them through my gallery?”  She put the vase down and picked up her mug again.

“I hadn’t thought about it, really.  I was planning to sell it out of my booth at Creativity and Crafts.”

She raised one eyebrow and took a sip of her coffee.  “You’re wasting your talent at that place.  It is for people who paint funny bird houses, not for someone like you, Emy.  Your work belongs in a gallery.  Besides, I can get you a lot more for your pieces than you would ever make at Craft Club or what ever the name of that place is.”

Over the next few minutes she went on and on about what she could do for me and my work.  I stood there in her living room with my mouth open.

“What you need is a signature trademark for your work.  You also need a really cool artistic name.  Any suggestions?”

“Well, we could use my legal name; I’ve always thought it was cool.  It’s Ember.”

“Your name is Ember Burns?”  Paul smiled.  “Hmm.  That’s classy.  It fits you.”

“Uh… Thanks.  My parents are very creative people.  I started going by Emy when I married my ex husband, Richard.”

“Well, I love the name Ember.  It goes with the smoky quality of your work,” said Meghan.  “But we need something to tell your adoring public that they have acquired a genuine Ember.  What if, at the base of the container we put three red dots of paint?  Then we could say that they are the ’embers’.”

I grinned.  What a great idea.  My head reeled with the possibilities.  My own signature mark, Richard would be irritated.  He always said my work was never good enough to be really important.  Meghan got a small bottle of dark red paint from her office and I put the dots in a triangle pattern on each vase.  Then she took them into the gallery and placed three of the pieces in the window against a red cloth.

“Don’t these look great?  I will get the printer to run me up a sign for your work today.  But, I need you to take a standard contract and have a lawyer look at it to make sure everything is in order.  I can’t legally sell anything of yours without that contract.  By the way do you have a card so I can call you when I need more?”

I handed her my business card from the firm and she gave me the oddest look.

“You’re a paralegal?  Well, I guess you don’t really need a lawyer to look this over then.  The sooner you get it back to me the sooner you will see results.”