Art for Art's Sake: Meredith's Story

by Barbara L. Clanton

  “Okay.” He didn’t look up from his book.

  Meredith swung the kitchen door open just in time to hear Millie proclaim, “That ought to hold ’em. Belts and suspenders.”

  Meredith held open the door so Esther could shuffle through.

  “Belts and suspenders?” Dani asked confused. Meredith hadn’t understood the comment either.

  Esther laughed. “They’re too young, Millie. Aren’t they?”

  “Pah,” Millie said. “C’mon, youngsters. Belts and suspenders. It means you overdo something like wear both a belt and suspenders to keep your trousers up.”

  Dani clapped Millie on the back. “I get it. That’s cool.” Apparently, Dani and Millie had become old friends in one afternoon.

  Meredith checked out the repaired back door. She never would have known what to do. They had replaced the back door lock and the doorjamb hardware, reinforced the wood with metal sheeting, and they also—Meredith assumed this was the “and suspenders” part—secured a two-by-four barricade across the door.

  Millie leaned in close to Meredith and whispered, “Your girl is quite handy with the tools. I’d hang onto her.” Millie winked and turned back to Esther. “My work here is done. How’s the hip, hon?”

  “A little sore, dearest. I think we should get going. Did I tell you girls? They let me go home for good two days ago. You should see how much work my Millie did to unpack the new apartment. It’s so cozy, and she did everything. We must have you girls over sometime. Oh, which reminds me, Millie, I’ve informed the girls that we’re adopting them as our granddaughters.”

  “Ho, ho. That’s excellent.” Millie clapped Dani on the back.

  Dani looked pleasantly surprised. “Hey, Meredith, we’ve got new grandparents. Grandmoms? Hey, can I borrow the car?”

  They chuckled over the new leaves in their respective family trees as they made their way out of the kitchen toward the front foyer.

  Esther stopped in the foyer and said, “And, dearest? Meredith wants to paint our portraits for our Randall-Bradley house. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  Millie, for once, seemed incapable of responding. Meredith saw Millie’s eyes get moist. For all her confident mannerisms and gruff ways, Meredith decided that Millie Bradley was an old softie.

  Millie blinked back her tears, cleared her throat, and said, “Thank you, Meredith. I…this is a wonderful thing you’re doing.” She turned to Dani and said, “See? I told you she was a keeper.”

  Dani turned away, obviously embarrassed, but turned back around just as quickly. Her eyes grew wide. “Where’s Mikey?”

  Meredith looked where she had left him only to find his book on the floor abandoned. She spun around in a panic. “Mikey?” she called. “Where are you?” There was no answer.

  Dani took charge. “Millie, will you look outside for him? Esther, will you stay here, please, in case he comes back? Meredith, you and I should go upstairs.” Dani bounded for the stairs before anyone had a chance to agree or disagree with her plan. “You take the second floor. I’ll take the third.”

  Meredith was frantic. She knew her brother had a tendency to wander and she had left him alone. She tried to reason with herself that she had only left him for a minute, but she knew she had messed up. She sprinted as best she could up the stairs and into the master bedroom on the second floor. She didn’t see him and started to leave, but turned back around to double check the fireplace. He wasn’t there. “Mikey,” she called out. When she didn’t hear him answer, she unlocked the doors to the balcony. Nothing. She saw Millie walking the fence by busy Center Street. Her nerves jangled. What if Mikey had wandered out onto the busy road?

  “Millie?” she shouted and heard the panic in her own voice. “Anything?”

  Millie looked up to the balcony and shook her head no.

  “Okay,” Meredith called. Her heart pounded as she made her way out of the master bedroom. She was about to go to the room she had dubbed her art studio when Dani called from the third floor. “He’s here, Meredith. He’s here. He’s okay. He’s…” She popped out of a door near the top of the stairs and laughed. “He’s sleeping in the fireplace.”

  “He is?” Meredith ran up the stairs past Dani. Her brother was indeed sleeping in his usual fetal position. She watched his chest slowly rise and fall. She exhaled in relief and willed her pulse to slow down. “Oh, my God. That was a close call. I know I can’t leave him like that. What’s wrong with me?” She fought back tears and struggled to keep her composure.

  When Dani moved beside her, Meredith let her sudden exhaustion consume her and leaned heavily against her friend. Dani’s arm went around her and Meredith welcomed the warmth from her friend.

  “He’s okay, Meredith. We’d never let anything happen to him.”

  She liked Dani’s comfort. She felt safe. “Thanks.” Meredith lifted her head. “I think we need to get him home, okay?”

  Dani nodded. “You’re right. I’ll go tell Millie and Esther that we found him.”

  Dani bounded back down the stairs, and Meredith leaned down near her brother. “Mikey? Time to get up. We have to go home now.” She shook his shoulder gently.

  He blinked and sat up. He blinked several more times and looked confused.

  Meredith brushed the hair out of his eyes. “Are you okay? You scared me. I didn’t know where you went.”

  He took a deep breath, clearly trying to wake up. “I’m okay, Mewey.” He crawled out of the fireplace and stood up.

  “Why did you go upstairs?”

  “Look for Mewey. Mewey and Dani.” He made his way toward the door and grinned back at her. He said, “Dani hold Mewey. Dani hold Mewey.” He laughed gleefully, fully awake now, and hopped down the stairs.

  Meredith tried to keep up with him as best she could. When they got back down the stairs, she watched Dani on her knees hug Mikey anxiously. Meredith had never felt such relief.

  Millie walked in the front door. “Oh, look at our three grandchildren, Esther.”

  “We lucked out, didn’t we?”

  Meredith struggled to gather up Mikey and the box with Esther’s pictures without losing either. Dani relieved Meredith of the box, and they made their way out the front door. Meredith held onto Mikey’s hand as they went down the front steps together.

  Although the winter afternoon sky had darkened, Meredith clearly saw the Cayuga Commercial Real Estate car move slowly and with purpose past the house. Meredith nudged Dani in the side and pointed to the car.

  Dani’s eyes flew open wide. She whispered low so only Meredith could hear. “Fish sticks.”

  “Fish sticks?”

  “Yeah. There’s something fishy going on here.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Don’t You Know?

  MEREDITH PUT TWO different colors, brown and yellow ochre, on her pallet and mixed them with her palette knife. Today was Dani’s first hair day so she would only use the browns and yellows. Later she would add greens and grays for shadow and after that, cadmium yellow mixed with white for Dani’s light blond highlights. Meredith was pleased, very pleased, with Dani’s portrait, even though it was only their third session.

  Dani looked out the window of the workroom obviously lost in thought. The only thing she could possibly see was the early March mud. Meredith smiled when she saw Dani distractedly flick her head in an effort to toss a lock of hair out of her eyes. She had seen Dani do this a thousand times. The movement was familiar, as familiar as that hot chocolate feeling that regularly crept into Meredith’s stomach these days.

  Meredith mixed the colors together and out of the corner of her eye saw her friend smile. The hot chocolate feeling that always started near her stomach spread through her again, and she felt her face get hot. She moved quickly behind the canvas so Dani wouldn’t see her blush. She didn’t understand why Dani’s smile made her react so oddly. Maybe, no probably, because Dani had been the only one to show her compassion over the last two years.

  Meredith took a deep breat
h in an attempt to get herself together. She tried to focus on the painting in front of her, but couldn’t so she asked, “Why are you smiling?”

  Dani didn’t answer.

  “C’mon. Why were you smiling just then?” Meredith peeked out from behind the painting.

  “I’m just happy, that’s all. Lacrosse started. We’ve got a great team, and Coach Pratt has me at first home again. I’m so psyched.”

  “First home. Is that a good position?” Meredith reached for a round brush. She had to remind herself to keep painting while they talked.

  “Yeah, you get to score a lot. I hate playing defense.”

  Meredith laughed. She stroked Dani’s painted hair. “Yeah. Offense fits you. I don’t see you as the defense type.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So what else made you smile just now? You weren’t smiling that big because of lacrosse.”

  Dani looked down at her hands. “Pah...just stuff.”

  She sounds just like Millie. Meredith waited, but Dani didn’t finish her thought. Meredith pushed. “You’re not going to tell me, are you?”

  “Nope.”

  “Oh, my God, Dani Lassiter. You like someone. That’s it, isn’t it?” Meredith knew she had hit the nail on the head when Dani cringed and put her head in her hands to hide her smile. Meredith was surprised when a shot of jealousy torpedoed through her.

  Meredith put her palette down and folded her arms. “Okay, who is it? That cute guy in history? What’s his name? Brian? Is it him?”

  Dani looked up, this time with only a hint of a smile in her eyes. “No, I don’t like Brian. I mean, I like Brian, he’s a nice guy, but I don’t like like him.”

  “I’ll get it out of you Danielle Anne Lassiter. You just wait and see.” Meredith picked up her palette again.

  Dani just nodded and looked out the window again.

  Meredith shook her head confused by the jealousy she’d felt at Dani liking some guy. Dani liking some guy seemed like a betrayal somehow. She took another deep breath and reminded herself that she had a job to do. The portrait wasn’t going to paint itself. They settled back into their usual silence.

  Meredith leaned back to take in the day’s work. She still had a lot more to do, but at this point anyone who looked at the portrait would definitely know who the subject was. She cleaned off her brush and made some mental notes for their next session the following Friday. She made another mental note to thank Mrs. Levine for letting them steal time from their regular art class. She didn’t know when they would have found time to do the portrait otherwise.

  Meredith had fully intended to give Dani the portrait once Mrs. Levine photographed it for her portfolio, but Meredith had become attached to it in a way she had never been attached to any other. She wanted to keep those blue eyes, that smiling expression, for herself.

  Dani broke the silence. “Now it’s my turn to ask what you were smiling about.”

  “Oh, uh...nothing, really.” Meredith didn’t realize she had been smiling. “I was just mentally thanking Mrs. Levine for letting us use her workroom. She’s pretty cool.”

  “Yeah, she is.”

  Meredith put the paint palette back in its plastic box. She stood up to restore order to the workroom and found Dani watching her intently. Meredith marveled at her expression, how Dani could on one hand appear to smile, but on the other hand look so completely serious.

  As the silence grew between them, Meredith began to feel uneasy to the point of being uncomfortable so in order to change the mood she teased her friend again. “So, who are you thinking about? Hmm?”

  The hint of Dani’s smile waned. She said, “Don’t you know?”

  Meredith, confused, searched her brain for who or what it was she was supposed to know. “I don’t. You’ll have to tell me.”

  Dani withdrew and Meredith felt a sudden void in the small room. As an artist she was keenly aware of the energy surrounding people, and the abruptness in which Dani retreated felt almost like a physical blow. The tiny workroom suddenly didn’t have enough oxygen. She said, “I think we’d better quit for today.”

  “Sure.” There was resignation in Dani’s voice.

  THE HARD BLEACHERS dug into Meredith’s legs as she tried to get comfortable on the cold wood. She pulled her winter coat tighter. The third week in March was no time to be sitting outside watching a sporting event and yet there they were at Dani’s first lacrosse game. Meredith had done some research about the game on the internet, but what she read did little to shed light on the fast-paced game on the field below. She tried to follow the action, but basically took her cue from the rest of the fans, of which there were many, and from her father, who had been able to switch his shift at work to be there that afternoon. He seemed to know an awful lot more about lacrosse than he ever let on. He was the one, after all, who had once said that lacrosse wasn’t a sport.

  Meredith still hadn’t figured out what had happened to cause that brief uncomfortable moment in Mrs. Levine’s workroom two weeks before, but Meredith was relieved that she and Dani hadn’t strayed from their comfortable routine. They still met each other at their lockers every morning and told each other all the things they had forgotten to tell each other during their phone call the night before. Meredith even got a little lonely during the school day because she had to wait until sixth period to see her friend. She liked having someone to walk with in the hallways and she particularly enjoyed sitting next to her friend in two classes. Meredith was positive that Mr. Dalton had caught them passing a note once, but had overlooked their indiscretion. She had never had a friend pass notes to her. Oh, she used to get notes passed to her, but they were never the kind she wanted to read.

  Meredith cheered and clapped and stomped her feet along with the other fans when Dani scored her second goal. The Whickett High School Wolves now led by a score of 3-2. Meredith watched proudly as Dani celebrated her goal by sprinting back to midfield holding her lacrosse stick high in the air.

  Mikey and her father seemed equally proud as they continued to clap. Her father finally sat down when the game began again at midfield. “Dani’s quite an athlete. That Syracuse coach would be crazy not to take her.”

  “Yeah, I know. She’s so quick.”

  “And, speaking of Syracuse...” He reached inside his coat and pulled out a thick envelope. “This came in the mail for you today.” He held out the envelope so she could see the Syracuse University return address.

  Meredith’s jaw dropped open and her eyes got wide. She reached for the envelope carefully as if it might disintegrate. “Dad! Why didn’t you tell me?” She ran her fingers over the return address and flipped it over.

  “I was waiting for just the right moment.” He smiled at her, his eyes bright with pride.

  She reached a finger under the flap. “It’s thick. That’s a good sign, right?”

  “There’s only one way to find out, daughter. Open it.”

  She took a deep breath and exhaled forcefully. She teased open the flap and pulled out the thick set of papers inside. She scanned the first paragraph of the letter and caught the words, “pleased to accept.” She stopped reading and threw her arms around her father. “I got in! I got in!” A few people looked their direction, but Meredith didn’t care. She had just gotten accepted to Syracuse University. “I can’t believe I got in.”

  “Of course you did. You’ve got the Bedford genes working for you. Congratulations, honey.” Her father beamed at her and opened his arms for a hug.

  Mikey naturally wanted a hug from Meredith, too, and she obliged, but her thoughts quickly turned to Dani. “Do you think Dani got in? We might room together. Oh, my God. I hope she got in. She probably doesn’t know yet.”

  “Ask her after the game.”

  “I will.”

  “Too bad your mother couldn’t be here for this.”

  “Let’s call her.”

  “Already done. I told her I’d call if it wasn’t an acceptance letter. She said she’d see you
tonight after her shift.”

  “I can’t believe you both knew before I did, but who cares. I got in.”

  Her father smiled. “Of course you did. Now, since we’re on our own for supper, where do you want your old man to take you? We should celebrate.”

  “Really? Okay, uh, how about Fiesta Loca? You know, near the old house we’re researching for our project?”

  Her father’s eyes followed the action on the field. “Sure. How about it, Mikey? Are you up for some Mexican?”

  “Mekin! Yeah, Dad.”

  “Excellent. Ooh—” A Whickett player received a hard push from a player on the opposing team. “You can’t check in girls’ lacrosse, can you?”

  “Dad, you’re asking me? I have no clue. Ask Dani.”

  “Yeah, what was I thinking?” He rolled his eyes. “Let’s see if Dani wants to go out to supper with us, okay?”

  “Okay. That’d be cool.” Asking Dani to have supper with her family suddenly made her nervous. “I’ll ask her after the game.” If Dani got into Syracuse, too, they could eat together every night. Meredith swallowed hard around the lump forming in her throat.

  The horn blew for halftime. The Whickett players ran to their team bench and sat down. Dani told Meredith that the Whickett High School coach, Ms. Pratt, had only been coaching for two years, but was very cool. Cool like Mrs. Levine. Meredith watched the young coach push her long brown hair out of her eyes and then address the team. She referred to her clipboard as she talked to them.

  Meredith stood up and stretched. “Hey, Mikey Pikey? Do you want to walk around the track?”

  “Okay, Mewey, c’mon.” He reached for her hand.

  “Dad, I’m going to take him for a lap around the track to tire him out a little.”

  “Good idea. I’ll go see what they have at the concession stand.”

  Meredith and Mikey walked down the steps of the sizable bleachers. Meredith opened the gate to the track that surrounded the football-turned-lacrosse field and smiled when Dani looked up from her team’s halftime huddle. Meredith chanced a small wave and Dani nodded ever so slightly back. Dani had announced at the March senior class meeting that very afternoon that there were only fifty-nine school days left of high school. Fifty-nine. Although Meredith yearned for freedom, she felt a bit of nostalgia for the routine she and Dani shared, but if Dani got into Syracuse, they would have a different routine, one that would be even better.