The Singing Trees by Walker Boo

Author:Walker, Boo
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2021-08-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 22

A SPEED SKETCH

Annalisa found Thomas’s response on her way back from work two weeks later, and she dashed up the stairs with Christmas glee, eager to read the letter. It was a Wednesday just after three, and she’d been thinking about her most recent class with Sharon on the walk home. She’d decided she wasn’t quite ready to tell her teacher about her breakthrough with regard to painting these powerful women and wanted to play with the idea more.

Kicking off her shoes, Annalisa settled into the couch to read.

If you knew only how happy it made me to open your letter and find your drawing. Can we call that tree by the phone booth the Leaning Tower of Treeza? How clever he could be, she thought, as she read the rest of his letter. Yes, he said, we heard about Jimi. Terrible. And Janis Joplin too. I’m sure you saw the Wichita State U plane went down. Tell me some good news, Anna. He said that it should be a crime for Louisiana to be so hot in October, that he felt like he already had one foot in the jungles of Asia. Then he asked her for a drawing of one of these women she had written about, wanting to see the style she was going after. He always asked her about her art and was unwavering with his support, which filled her up but also made her question her decision to leave him.

Thinking of Emma, she wondered if she was doing any better, if maybe she’d found some happy moments in the sunshine of summer. Annalisa wished there were something she could do, but Emma had shown she had no interest in continuing their relationship.

She sketched an idea of what she’d been doing and then accompanied it with her response. The good news is that Nixon is finally pulling soldiers out. She’d become an avid watcher of the news since she had such a vested interest now in the outcome. The day before, Nixon had promised to pull forty thousand troops out of Vietnam by Christmas. She felt so hopeful for Michael and for Thomas and for the other soldiers. Is there talk of the war coming to an end? When do you think you’d have to ship out? I pray every day that you won’t have to. She asked him about Emma and if he was still able to keep up with sports and if he was happy at all. She wanted to cheer him up and make more jokes about summer camp and building forts with his pals, but the closer he came to his tour, the less humor she could find.

She’d done this to him. What was funny about that?

As she licked the glue of the envelope, she thought of their last kiss, during one of his driving lessons, and that led her to thinking about backing into Walt’s car. She ultimately decided not to tell him about the accident, as she didn’t want to give him anything else to worry about.

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