Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapters Ten & Eleven
Epilogue
Chapter 4
Maria never saw the old man; she was staring at the redheaded girl with a thousand freckles. “Hi, come on in. My name is Art and this is Maria.” I said as I held open the door. The old man reached out his hand, “Hello. I am Angus and this is Melissa.” His hand was coarse and strong. “Melissa, say hello and shake their hands”. Melissa, still with eyes wide and unblinking, reached to me, then Maria. Maria smiled and said a simple “Hi”. I said, “Actually, Melissa and I have already met. She stole my watercolors at the quilt shop”. She squinted her eyes and pursed her lips “I did not, I was there first!” I laughed and said, “Yes, you are right. You got there first, fair and square, and the watercolors were yours to buy.” She smiled and said, “I am glad I got there first but I am no good at watercolors”.
I escorted them into our kitchen, and asked them if they wanted some tea, both said yes. As I poured the tea I said, “So, Melissa, I guess you want to learn how to use those watercolors?” She responded, “Yes, I tried to use them but I made a big mess and ruined everything”. “What did you ruin exactly?” I asked. “I ruined this.” She pulled out an envelope from the little bag she had with her. There were some bits of color on the edges but for the most part it was it was grey, muddy and quite waterlogged. It was still damp.
“Well, the first thing we might do is let you use some better paper, that’s one of the reasons this didn’t work out so well.” I said. “NO!” she exclaimed. “I need to be able to paint on an envelope because I need to send it to someone.” “Well, we will keep that in mind, but I still think you might learn more if we at least start on some better paper, is that ok?” “NO! I want to learn on envelopes.” She squinted her eyes again. “I know pretty paintings can be done on envelopes because of this one.” She brought out another envelope. It was the one I had seen in my box the week before.
“Actually, not only have I met you before Melissa, but I have met this envelope before”. “What does that mean?” Angus asked. I didn’t think he had been paying attention. He had been looking out the kitchen window at our birdfeeder, watching the cardinals and the blackbirds fight for food. “Well, I have Box 745 at the Post Office and they put this in my box instead of 845. Of course I noticed how beautiful it was. I remember thinking that Melissa, whoever she was, was a lucky girl to get such a beautiful letter. Bettina at the post office really liked it too. She said it was ‘love in the mail’.”
Angus didn’t show much of a response, but Melissa smiled wide. “It’s from my brother, he lives in Alabama”. “Wow, that’s a long way away. What’s he doing there?” I asked. Melissa was just about to say something when Angus stirred in his chair and said, “We should get on with the lesson. I have to be back home in 45 minutes.” Melissa shrank just a bit. I took the hint to not ask any more and we went into the studio for her first lesson. Angus went outside to smoke a cigarette. I could see him through the large north window of the studio. He stood motionless, head down, contemplating the smoke.
Melissa said, “I want to be able to paint a sunrise to send back to my brother. Can you teach me how to do that?” Maria who had been by my side the whole time, still watching the redheaded girl, piped up, “He can teach anybody anything!” Melissa looked at Maria and smiled. “Good!” she said. I turned to Maria, “Maria, can you go get some envelopes from my office?”
