The Earth Painter (12 page)

Bio turned his attention back to Theo and me.
His voice melodic and smooth, like his suit and stance.
“Yes, they heard us, but they didn’t know it. Theo and Walden even whispered some painting tips, but they never saw us or spoke to us or…” he looked at me directly. “…
followed
us.”

“Hey, Holly.
What’s up?”

I turned around to see Anthony and Wayne. “Hey. I gestured to Theo who still had his arm around me. “You guys remember Theo.” You could see it in their eyes that they’d not noticed him until that moment. Theo spoke to them. “You guys going to the school board meeting tomorrow? After all, it was your discovery.” He pointed to Wayne.

“I’ll be there.” Wayne answered, eyeing Theo and his arm around me.
“Since it was my sample that brought the well into question.”

We all stood there quiet for a second. Then Anthony ended the awkward silence. “Let’s go get a hot dog. I’m starving.” The two of them got in line.

Theo pulled me with him and headed for the bleachers. “We should go find a seat too.”

We all sat together at the top of the bleachers.
Theo and me on one concrete slab.
Geo and Bio behind us.
Bio was eyeing us with particular interest. Geo glanced around at the field and then tapped Theo.

“Man, why are we watching humans run around chasing a ball? I don’t even get the point.”

Bio pointed out to the field. “It’s a display of the human male’s need to conquer, claim, and dominate a territory. Like back in empirical times when kings were always storming borders and redrawing their maps and kingdoms but on a smaller scale. It’s a testosterone driven display as well to show off to the potential mates.” Then he pointed to the cheerleaders.

Geo’s voice boomed again, “But why does Theo want to watch? He’s not a testosterone charged human.”

Bio’s eyes narrowed as he glared at the two of us. “That I’m not sure of.” Then he asked Theo, “Why do you want to sit here and watch football?”

Theo shrugged.
“Something different.
We always play cards.”

Geo’s voice thundered. “What’s wrong with always doing the same thing?”

“I’m just ready for a change—that’s all.”

The night air grew colder. I shivered, and Theo held me closer. By halftime, I realized that Shelby hadn’t called me yet. It made me a little worried, especially with the way her boyfriend had been acting when I left.

I pulled out my cell and called her. When she didn’t answer, I got even more worried and told the guys I needed to go check on her. Geo and Bio were obviously bored with watching football and ready to get back to their card game, but Theo insisted on walking me to the car. Again, I could see that this interested Bio. He and Geo stayed close by and watched as we walked to Shelby’s car.

She was in the driver’s seat. Her face was hidden, and her arms were crossed over the steering wheel. I tapped on the glass to get her attention. She didn’t look up at first. Then I tapped again and shouted, “Shelby, are you alright?”

When she finally looked up at me, my breath caught, and my hand covered my mouth. A dark purple handprint covered the left side of Shelby’s face.

“Oh, my…. Shelby. Are you ok?”

Shelby called her mom and asked if she could spend the night with me. She told me that she didn’t want to have to explain the mark on her face to her mom when she wasn’t even supposed to be seeing Brad. So I invited her to stay at my place.

Theo leaned into the passenger window to make plans to go to the school board meeting. Bio eyed us suspiciously, especially Theo. I told Theo to come by my house, and we’d go to the
meeting together the next day and left him with his friends. When we got to my place, Shelby wouldn’t talk. My parents were already in bed. I was glad I didn’t have to explain things to them. I offered Shelby some pajamas, but she refused. I went and showered and brushed my teeth. When I got back, she was texting.

“Do you want to sleep in my bed? I’ll go sleep on the couch.”

“No thanks.” She grabbed her jacket and purse and headed for the door. “I’m not going to be staying after all.
Brad’s wanting
me to meet him.”

I stood there not sure what to say as she headed for the door, but I soon found
myself
chasing after her. “Shelby, he hit you. Why are you going to meet him—alone? What if he does it again?”

“He won’t. He was just stressed out, that’s all. Really, he’s not normally like that. He keeps texting me telling me how sorry he is. He called me while you were in the shower and left a message.” She looked me in the eye. “He was crying.”

Shelby opened my front door and walked out onto the porch. “Thanks for being a good friend to me tonight. But everything’s fine now.” She walked down my steps and then turned to speak one last time.

“Don’t tell your parents—ok? Your mom might tell my grandma, and it’ll make it harder for me to see Brad.”

Then she got in her car and left. I stood there in the doorway and watched her headlights disappear down the road.

Chapter 12

I was too worried about Shelby to relax. I tossed and turned for about an hour before I got up and texted her. She texted back that she was fine and again reminded me not to tell my mom. I kept telling myself that she knew her boyfriend better than I did. Maybe she was right, and there was nothing for me to worry about. My gut gnawed and churned, refusing to swallow what I was trying to feed it. The worry kept me awake until the early morning when I finally went to sleep. It was lunch time when I got up. I was running late. I jumped in the shower and used my new hair products. I got out and dried my hair with the paper towel like Shelby had instructed me to. My hair had ringlet curls instead of frizz.

I dusted on a little mineral powder we’d picked up at the cosmetology store. Shelby said it would blend my skin tone and freckles without hiding them. I didn’t do much beyond that. Just mascara and lip gloss. Not the full kabuki my mom liked me to wear. I thought about my mom teaching me to put makeup on thick until no spot, line or flaw showed—full coverage. Then she showed me how to go back and redraw my whole face with the pallet of colors, pencils, and brushes she had picked for me. My real lips, skin, eyes, cheeks all covered by fake ones. The ones my mom wanted me to have. The kind she wanted people to see when they looked at her daughter. In the end, I never recognized myself in the mirror.

I looked in the mirror and for the first time ever, liked what I saw. It was me—but an improved me. Not a disguised me or a pretend me. My heart felt light and fluttery like a butterfly. My head raised and my shoulders moved back without my mom reminding me. It was automatic and natural.

The thought of Theo came to mind. My heart changed again from a butterfly to a hummingbird. Warm blood raced from it, through my veins and out to my fingers and toes,
electrifying my skin and raising goose bumps the way his whispered words did when we had painted.

I was smiling when I walked to the kitchen. My parents were outside working in the yard. I put together a quick lunch of bologna and cheese before I went back to my room, locked the door and changed out of my bathrobe into clothes. I was on my laptop at my desk doing a map search for the district office when a familiar voice spoke behind me.

“You ready?”

Even though I knew the voice, I wasn’t expecting it. I spun around to see Theo eyeing my pink walls. His lips twisted in disapproval. When my heart resumed beating, I spoke. “I didn’t hear you come in.” Then I noticed my door was still shut behind him. I jumped up and checked the lock. The button was still pressed in. I turned back to see him touching my floral window treatment. “How did you get in here?”

He shook his head. “This room isn’t you at all. You’re not a pink kind of person.”

“My mom decorated it. It’s her style, not mine.” My hands went to my hips. “Answer me. How did you get in here?”

He smiled and sat on my bed.
“The back door.”

“My room doesn’t have a back door.”

“No.” He stretched out on my bed and picked up one of my throw pillows and started spinning it by a corner tassel. “You came in the front door of my home. You could because I have it connected to the school. But I have a back door that’s always with me. It leads to…”  He stopped as if to think of the right way to put it.
“…wherever I want to go.
I turn around, and it’s there. I walk through it and think about where I want to be, and that’s where I am.”

I went back to sit at my desk. “Can I do it and let’s say…go to Paris?”

Theo sat up. “I don’t know. Let’s see.” He took my hand as he turned around and disappeared. He had my hand, and then suddenly he didn’t. Within a minute, he was there again. “Why didn’t you come with me?”

“I tried but…I don’t know. You were gone, and I was here.”

“Well it doesn’t really matter. It was nasty weather there anyway.” He turned and looked around. “Do you have a clock?”

I pointed to my alarm clock, “We need to get going if we want to make it to the meeting on time. Geo and Bio went to get Chemistry. They’ll meet us there.”

I asked Mom for the keys but decided not to point out that Theo was with me. Why make things more complicated? The office was just outside of Chesnee, between it and the small town of Boiling Springs that was also a part of Spartanburg School District 2.

I handed Theo the directions to read to me while I drove. Theo smiled at me. “You know this is my first time in a car?”

I thought a second before I responded. “Why ride in a car with me when you could just use your back door? Gosh, that would be so cool.”

Theo wrinkled his nose. “Not when you’ve been doing it forever. I’d love to drive a car.”

We got to the district office a little late because I missed the turn the first time. We slipped in and sat on the back row. Theo had to point out that Bio and Geo were there already. I didn’t notice them at first. Bio leaned in to speak to us.

“Looks like you were right about Fritz.”

Theo stared at the school board members seated up front, taking turns speaking into their microphones. “I can see that.”

I watched and listened as the board members spoke. Nothing looked suspicious to me. I leaned closer to whisper to the guys. “How do you know Fritz is involved?”Theo pointed at one of the speakers. “Because he’s up there whispering in the speaker’s ear right now. See him right there, to her left.”

As soon as he pointed Fritz out, I saw him. How had I missed him standing there, walking around, leaning in and whispering into people’s ears? He saw us too. His glare was penetrating as the whites showed just under his pupil. There was something about the way he walked among the people in the crowd—the way he looked at them. It reminded me of the way Tina had looked at Shelby—disgust, distain, hate. I would have thought such a face would be like something from a horror movie. Instead, Fritz had the face of a movie star. Who knew evil could look so good? “Does she know he’s there?” I looked at Theo. “Can she hear him talking to her? I thought painters were not noticeable.”

“She can hear him, but she doesn’t know it. She thinks what he’s saying are her own thoughts. We immortals have the power of whispers. We can whisper in the ear of a person. If that person is in tune with what we are saying, we can influence them without them even knowing.”

Geo leaned in closer. “So you didn’t notice Fritz without him being pointed out, but you noticed Theo all on your own?” He tapped Bio. “What do you make of that? Got any biological explanation for it?”

“No.” Bio tossed his head to the side to move his bangs from his eyes. “The whole thing about these two is bizarre.” He turned to watch the proceedings again. “I’m a science. I don’t like bizarre. I like order and predictability. I’ll need to observe and study a little bit more before I draw any conclusions. There has got to be an explanation.”

Mr. Jolly, one of the board members leaned in to speak into his microphone. “We cannot risk the health of our children a moment longer. The old well has been compromised. We’re lucky nothing has contaminated it before now.” He looked at his fellow trustees. “We should have switched the school to public water years ago. We’ve messed up. We’ve failed here, and we need to own it and take immediate action. As you know, I have a construction company. We will work at cost to dig and install pipes. By next week, we can have the school on public water and have the whole thing corrected.”

Suddenly, Fritz was beside the middle aged man whispering in his ear. Mr. Jolly’s eyes dilated as if he’d just thought of something. He continued his speech.

“And to be on the safe side, my company will fill in the well with concrete to seal it off permanently.”

The board members took turns speaking, all of them in agreement with Mr. Jolly’s plan of action. Theo’s face contorted as he spoke. “No one up there thinks permanently sealing the well is a bit extreme? They’re going to go along with it without even thinking about it. People are so dull minded.” Then he looked at me, suddenly realizing what he’d said. “Not all people…not…you.”

“You could go up there and whisper too—if you wanted to,” said the guy sitting beside Bio. It was the first time I had noticed him. I’m not sure how I’d missed him. He wasn’t dressed for a
school board meeting. He wore ripped jeans and white fitted t-shirt that hugged his muscular upper body. He fit right in with the sciences so I guessed he was Chemistry.