I tried the door and it opened.“I guess so,” I said.
She let out a little excited sound and went in.She went to one of the work benches and gently ran her hand over it.She seemed so comfortable in the space, I could almost picture her teaching a class.
She chuckled as she went over to one of the pottery wheels.“Electric and manual?That’s so cool.”
I hung out by the door as she explored more of the room, looking at all the projects filling the drying racks, at the kiln, mumbling to herself.She was really into it.
“All right,” she said, finally coming back over.“Next room.”
“They’re having a special showing in the smaller gym this week to show off the final projects of all the art students.Micah was mumbling about it before school ended.We should be able to sneak in and look at them if you want.”
Her eyes shined with curiosity and she grabbed my hand, tugging me back down the hall.We had two gymnasiums at our school, the huge one that we mainly used for gym class, and then across the hall at the back end of the large one was one that was about half the size.
I hit one of the switches so we could see into the room, and I was right, it was already set up for a showing tomorrow.Fake walls were set up around the entire space so it looked more like an art gallery, and they were covered with drawings, paintings, and other artwork.Open spaces were filled with sculpted work.There were even some displays from the metal shop class, with twisted sections of metal pieced together in artful ways.
“Oh wow,” Janice said, slowly walking around.“I was only gone a couple of years.How did the art program expand so much since then?”
I shrugged.“I’m not sure.I think there was a change in staff and that helped.”
“Well, I’m glad to see what everyone is able to do now.”She stopped at a metal sculpture.It looked like a moose.After a while, she moved on.Micah gave me a general area of where his watercolor painting was, so I headed over there.
There were a few watercolors.I was actually surprised when he told me he did a watercolor for his final.I knew he didn’t enjoy a lot of mediums, mainly sticking to just using pencil.He was more of a sketcher than anything else.
As soon as I approached the area, I knew exactly which one was his.My breath caught as I got closer, blinking hard at what he’d done.
A few years ago, Micah sent me a picture of his mom.It was a bad time for her, where everyone thought it was finally happening.She was in a wheelchair, outside, looking out over a large pond.The photo I had was of her front, with her smiling with Micah.
What Micah did as a watercolor was of her facing away, staring out over the pond, soft green rolling hills on the other side.Her head was wrapped in a cloth, a blanket hanging off the side of the wheelchair, flowing down almost like a waterfall, cascading to the ground and stretching out on both sides of her.
Peacefulness fell over me as I stared at all the love in the painting.Knowing the story behind it only made it hit harder for me.
“Is this Micah’s?”Janice whispered.
I jumped slightly.Swallowed hard, I responded in a thick voice, “Yeah.His mom.”
“She’s sick?”
“She’s better now.”I reached out and rested my hand on the simple black frame.“She won.”Even in the painting, she looked like she won.I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture, quickly sending it to Micah with a quick message.
Me:Found it.
I tucked my phone away.
Janice moved on after a moment, her steps light as she wandered toward another section of the exhibit.I stayed there, unable to move away from Micah’s watercolor.His work was completely magnetic.The way he captured the moment—not just the stunning visuals, but the emotions it was able to convey even though we couldn’t see her expression.He nailed every aspect of it.This was a precious memory to him.
I reached out again, brushing over the nameplate of the watercolor drawing.I smiled at the name of the painting:Yesterday’s Edge of Tomorrow.
Today.
Her today, full of hope and life and a future.So absolutely perfect.I was so proud of Micah for pouring so much of himself into this piece, for opening up like this.
I really wanted to know how Bayley was going to respond to this when she saw it.
The buzz of my phone startled me out of my thoughts.I pulled it from my pocket to see Micah’s text.
Micah:Did you like it?
I smiled softly, typing back.
