At the Edge of the World by Jones Kari;

Author:Jones, Kari;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2016-09-01T04:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

Maddie

There are many things I don’t understand. Chief among them is why. Why does Ivan stay with Des? Why?

The bus ride to Victoria is long and dark and rainy, just like my mood, and though I feel a little carsick by the end, I’m not ready to climb down the steps and into my aunt’s arms.

“Maddie,” she says with a smile. She holds me at arms’ length and says, “Something’s troubling you.” Which is when I burst into tears.

“I see.” She leads me to her car, and we drive for a few minutes until we reach her house. There are kayaks in the driveway, as always, and her garden looks like it’s trying to escape. I love coming here. Inside, she brews a pot of tea and leads me to the back garden. Her little dog, Tintin, jumps all over me as I sit down on a blue plastic chair.

“Thanks, Aunt Alex, and thanks for letting me come here.” The tea is hot and soothes my upset stomach.

“Is it about Peter?” Alex and Bo are close. He’s probably told her all about my screaming session with Peter yesterday.

I shake my head. “Peter and I had a fight, but no, it’s not about him.”

“An affair of the heart?” she asks, which makes me laugh and spill hot tea on my shirt.

“Sort of,” I say.

“Will you tell me his name? It is a him?”

I smile at her and say, “Yes, his name is Ivan.”

“Ah, Ivan,” she says.

“You remember him?”

“Of course. He has a beautiful smile, just like his father.”

Oh my god, I’ve never thought of that. Des and Ivan are dissimilar in so many ways that I never stopped to think about it, but it’s true they do look alike. Same build, same basic face shape, even some of the same gestures. But not the smile. Ivan’s smile is so sweet.

“So…” says Alex.

I put down my teacup. A honeysuckle tendril waves next to my face in the breeze. I pull the stamen out and suck on it.

“The truth is, Aunt Alex, I can’t talk about it.”

She leans back and contemplates me. Her fingers play in Tintin’s fur. “So you’ve come here to get away from something, to think about it for a day or two, but not to talk about it?”

“Yes, kind of.” I don’t want to be rude, but also I don’t want to talk about it.

“I’ve set up your old easel in the spare room—it has the best light,” Alex says.

“You’re the best, Aunt Alex.” I lean forward and give her a hug.

“I’ll be here if you need me,” she says.

The afternoon light is good in Alex’s spare room, so I spend the next while sketching. I’ve brought pencils and paper with me, so I don’t need the easel, but I use it anyway, because it reminds me of when I was little. The first thing I do is sketch Ivan, his anger bursting out of him. Then I draw him battling that anger with a sword that ends up looking more like a surfboard.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.