Painting the Game by Patricia MacLachlan
Author:Patricia MacLachlan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00
* * *
Fearless or fearsome, the game is won.
The short story or small novel is ended.
When we drive home Robin sleeps. Tex leans over her and whispers to me, âNow itâs the time.â
âTime for what?â I ask.
âKnuckleball time,â he says, pulling a Wiffle ball out of his pocket.
âTomorrow. My house. My field.â He hands me the Wiffle ball.
I hold it in my hand. Our secret.
And weâre quiet all the way home with the setting sun.
9 Secrets
In the early morning I wander out into the house.
Itâs quiet again.
Itâs empty of Edgarâs sly truths, Rubyâs tossing game, my fatherâs fingers in my hair, and the way he sets my shoes beside my bed at nightâ
Just my mother and me.
I go into the kitchen.
My mother is there. She is on the phone, her back to me.
âYes, James, I have most all the paintings ready to hang. What museum space do I have?â
A pause.
âYes, I can fill four rooms. Do you want to come by for a look to see what you want? Maybe put them in an order you and I like?â
Another pause.
I stand very still.
âOkay, see you tomorrow, then. Bye.â
She hangs up and turns.
I am there.
She stares at me.
She is so quiet that the silence seems worse than noise. How can that be?
âYou heard.â
I nod.
âI didnât mean to listen,â I say.
My mother sits down at the kitchen table.
I sit down next to her.
âI didnât mean to,â I repeat.
She reaches over and puts her hand on mine.
âYou know,â she says in a soft voice, âI think Iâve kept the secret of having an exhibit of my paintings for so longâthinking that I worked better on my own, thinking that I had to keep the secret.â She looks at me. âBut art should be shared.â
âSecrets, too, maybe,â I say, my voice as soft as hers.
My mother doesnât speak.
Then she stands up.
She takes my hand.
âCome.â
âWhere?â I ask.
She doesnât answer.
We go through the house to her studio door.
And she opens it.
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