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, “Now it’s the time.”

“Time for what?” I ask.

“Knuckleball time,” he says, pulling a Wiffle ball out of his pocket.

“Tomorrow. My house. My field.” He hands me the Wiffle ball.

I hold it in my hand. Our secret.

And we’re quiet all the way home with the setting sun.

9 Secrets

In the early morning I wander out into the house.

It’s quiet again.

It’s empty of Edgar’s sly truths, Ruby’s tossing game, my father’s fingers in my hair, and the way he sets my shoes beside my bed at night—

Just my mother and me.

I go into the kitchen.

My mother is there. She is on the phone, her back to me.

“Yes, James, I have most all the paintings ready to hang. What museum space do I have?”

A pause.

“Yes, 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?”

Another pause.

I stand very still.

“Okay, see you tomorrow, then. Bye.”

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?

“You heard.”

I nod.

“I didn’t mean to listen,” I say.

My mother sits down at the kitchen table.

I sit down next to her.

“I didn’t mean to,” I repeat.

She reaches over and puts her hand on mine.

“You know,” she says in a soft voice, “I think I’ve kept the secret of having an exhibit of my paintings for so long—thinking that I worked better on my own, thinking that I had to keep the secret.” She looks at me. “But art should be shared.”

“Secrets, too, maybe,” I say, my voice as soft as hers.

My mother doesn’t speak.

Then she stands up.

She takes my hand.

“Come.”

“Where?” I ask.

She doesn’t answer.

We go through the house to her studio door.

And she opens it.

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.