“What do you mean she had the same colour as me?”
Closing his eyes, Harry managed to pull the memory of the night the Horse had appeared on the wall and the person he’d seen call it forth. It had been a hot summer night, and Harry was down to a T-shirt and track pants, his usual uniform for a Toronto summer. He had been packing things up, late into the evening. Like many citizens of the streets, Harry didn’t really care for shelters. Too many nasty things happened there. He had a nice little nook hidden away in a construction site not far away. He’d been using it for the last couple of weeks, allowing him to stay out longer, long past the usual curfews set by the shelters.
He knew the alleyway that was to become the home of the Horse. Lots of people frequented the walls there, spreading their messages of dreams and creativity across and along its dingy surface. Many strange and unusual persons had frequented those alleys of the imagination, but none like the bringer of the Horse. He himself had wandered that potholed and broken pavement many times before. It used to remind him of the beauty that could exist in the city. But it had been a long time since he’d been between those brick and aluminum walls.
His eyes still closed, Harry answered Ralph’s question, his right cheek twitching. “The woman … the girl was Indian. The Horse is Indian. If horses can be Indian. I know some Indians can be jackasses …” Suddenly Harry burst out laughing, startling Ralph.
If this guy is wasting my time, thought Ralph, but before he could finish, Harry looked at him, directly in the eye, as lucid and focused as anybody Ralph had ever met in his life.
“Sit down. I’ll tell you more. But you have to tell me, why did you become a cop?”
Not knowing what else to do, Ralph once again sat down.
CHAPTER SEVEN
USUALLY IT WAS the three kids who would burst into the Thomas house bustling with energy and pleading for something to eat, but this time it was Liz, chasing Tye. “Let me, please! I want to try it.”
Tye seemed quite adamant. “I told you. You can’t. It’s not allowed.”
“What do you mean, it’s not allowed? It’s your truck. You drive it.”
Tye put his coat on a peg in the mud room and waited patiently for Liz to take hers off. “Okay, first thing, it’s not my truck. It belongs to the company. I am hired by the company to drive it. And secondly, there are all sorts of insurance and company regulations preventing the wife of a tractor-trailer driver from operating it just for the hell of it.”
“I think you’re afraid I can handle it. Probably better than you do.” Liz took her winter boots off.
“Hey, you want to take a few truck-driving classes, go ahead. The company is always looking for a few more women drivers. We have a handful, and it always looks good for publicity reasons.” Tye stopped talking and looked around, appearing puzzled.
“What?”
“It’s quiet.”
Liz looked around too, suddenly aware of the silence. “School’s out, right?”
“Yeah, a while ago.” Together they walked into the living room, and not for the first time, Tye had the uncomfortable feeling that the Horse’s eyes were following him. While he did not share his family’s growing obsession with the drawing, there was something captivating about it.
In the living room, the parents came upon an unusual sight. Three children, one on the cusp of teenageness, sitting in an array of armchairs and couches, their faces buried in books. For a brief half a second, Liz debated whether she should poke the bear and possibly disturb the rare calm of the house. “Ah, hello?”
All three looked up at the same moment.
“Hey, Mom. Dad.”
“Hi.”
“When’s dinner?” said William.
Curious, Liz took the book from Shelley, opening it. She showed it to her husband, whose furrowed brow revealed a certain amount of confusion. Tye decided to poke the proverbial bear a little more. “You guys are quiet. I don’t trust you. What’s up?”
All three shrugged, but Ralph answered. “Just trying to figure things out.”
Liz gave Shelley back her book and then glanced at the two boys’ books. “More stuff about horses, I see?”
“Painted horses,” added William. “We took the other books back to the library and got these out instead.”
Tye sighed. “Is it my imagination or have you three become kinda fixated on horses ever since what’s-her-name drew that thing on our wall?”
“Her name is Danielle, Dad, and she was here again today.”
Liz leaned into the kitchen to look at the sparse Everything Wall. “Really? It looks the same.”
“It is. That’s the problem, Mom,” said Ralph. “She was disappointed.”
“More than disappointed. I’d say she was hurt that it was still there,” added Shelley. “It made no sense.”
“Shelley and Ralph wanted to try and figure this out, so I offered to help.” William turned the page of his book and tried as hard as he could to indicate he was deep in thought.
Shelley rolled her eyes. “Some help.”
Tye picked up one of the books and casually leafed through it. “Don’t you think you guys are taking this interest in her and horses a little too far?”
Liz kissed Shelley on the head. “I think it’s admirable. It shows inquisitive minds. Let us know if we can help.” Liz entered the kitchen, still speaking. “I’m gonna start supper. And Tye, your boots are still on. You’re leaving a mess through my freshly cleaned house.” It was true. Tye’s snow boots were still on his feet, and there was indeed a trail of half-melted snow leading into the living room.
“Oops.” Tye managed a decent mea culpa face that brought a smile to the faces of his children and their friend. Tiptoeing back into kitchen in an overly exaggerated manner, he grabbed a mop stored next to the boots for just such an emergency. Off came his boots and down went the mop. In a low voice, but loud enough for the kids to hear, Liz admonished her partner. “And what is wrong with you? Those kids are reading books on art and animals, actual non-fiction books with facts and information.”
“I’m just saying …”
“Well, don’t.”
All three kids exchanged slightly amused glances. Between mop sweeps, they heard Tye sighing.
Louder this time, their mother addressed them from the other room. “So, any idea why that poor little girl just left like that?”
Tossing her book on the coffee table, Shelley got up, stretching her legs. “Nah, I think maybe we got the wrong books. These just show us pictures. I mean paintings and drawings of horses. Nothing really about why people draw them.”
From the far end of the couch, William’s voice shouted out. “I found some really cool ones that cave people drew. They’re amazing. Who knew? Cavemen! They look more real than a lot of paintings I’ve seen on walls. I might start drawing like that.”
“Makes sense. You are a caveman. No, Mom, we’ve been trying to figure it out since it happened. She looked so … I don’t know … wounded … like we’d done something to her on purpose.”
Still leafing through a book, Ralph shook his head. “No, not wounded. Like you said earlier. Disappointed. Yeah, like she was sad to see it still here. She wasn’t expecting it to be still on the Wall. In fact, she didn’t want it to be here at all.”
“Honey, you missed a spot.”
The kids heard the mop stop its swishing sound. “Was the floor always this dirty?”
“Just since you got home. So, have you three geniuses come up with any idea of what and why?”
“She’s crazy. That’s why.”
For that comment, Liz stuck her head back into the living room, aimed directly at the only non-blood member of her family. “Now, William, that’s no way to talk about a frightened little girl.”
“Sorry.” Chastened, he ducked down behind his book.
&nbs
p; Back in the kitchen, Liz started slicing up some lettuce. Salad was on the menu for dinner. William would not be happy.
“And you’re sure nobody said anything that upset her. Nothing?”
Shelley shook her head. “Nothing. Honest, Mom. As soon as she saw it, she started getting upset. Really, I tried to —”
Out of nowhere, Ralph remembered the intense look on Danielle’s face as she’d finished up the details of the Horse. He started leafing back through the pages of his book, trying to find a reference he had skimmed over. It was a comment at the bottom of an ancient carving that had caught his interest. After a few seconds he found it. The caption made perfect sense to him. Perhaps the reason for the young girl’s actions. He interrupted his sister as the ideas took form. It was so obvious but, at the same time, so bizarre. “I think I might know.”
His sister, his friend, and his mother peered at him. Even his father, mop still in hand, glanced around the door frame at his son. They all waited expectantly.
“Yeah? We’re listening,” said Tye, now curious.
Realizing he might have spoken too quickly, having only developed a half-conceived idea, he was nonetheless committed. Getting up from his big comfy chair, he went to the dining room table, which was actually in the living room, and opened up his book. There, on the page, was the image of a deer carved into an antler bone. All crowded around it.
“She was trying to draw a moose and it came out as a horse?” William’s contribution to the discussion was not addressed.
“It’s not the picture of the Horse itself that’s important to her. Not the Horse that’s up there now.” They all looked at him, confused. “You see, it’s the drawing of the Horse that’s important to her.”
For the second time, confusion danced upon the faces inhabiting the Thomas house. “Ralph, honey, I don’t understand. And I don’t think Shelley or William do either.”
Tye spoke. “Well, if we’re taking attendance, let’s make it unanimous.”
Ralph turned the page to show another large, impractical piece of primitive artwork. This time a whale. “It’s drawing the Horse that she likes, not the actual finished Horse. When she’s creating it, chalk in her hand, putting it on the Wall, I guess she’s imagining it to life, that’s what she wants. Do you see what I mean? That” — Ralph indicated the Horse — “means nothing to her now. She wants to draw a new one, create a new Horse, and couldn’t because this one, the one she drew last time, was still here. Danielle needs it to be gone so she can draw it again.” They all turned to look at the Horse. And it looked back.
“That is so warped.”
“You should know.” Shelley tried to wrap her brain around what her brother had said. “Imagining it to life.” She liked how that sounded, and it made her think of something. “You know, this year in school we learned that some cultures do things like that. They carve or make things that have no logical purpose in their lives, they do it just to set free something inside. Like why a lot of what anthropologists call ‘primitive people’ carved so much when they were nomadic people and carrying around a whole bunch of carved soapstone or bones or things like that wouldn’t be so smart. In fact, it would weigh them down. Literally.”
“Yeah, yeah. And model airplanes,” said William.
“What?”
Intrigued by what was being said, William spoke up, grasping the idea in his own unique way. “Model airplanes or boats. Kind of the same principle. It would be a lot easier to buy a finished plane or boat, but some people really prefer putting the things together. There’s no point in getting one if it’s already finished. Know what I’m saying?”
“Crossword puzzles. Jigsaw puzzles. Nobody wants a finished one.” Now Liz was seeing the big picture. Even Tye was nodding, once again gazing at the Horse out of the corner of his eye. He, for one, would not be unhappy if it was decided it was time for the Horse to meet its demise via a bucket of soapy water. This was a good step in that direction.
The mystery had been solved, they hoped. For a few seconds, the entire family looked at the Horse. They knew the problem, and they also knew the solution. The Horse they were all fascinated by was yesterday’s news. It had to go. It had achieved its purpose, but now it was time for the Horse to go to where all chalk horses must eventually go. Artistic oblivion.
Ralph stated the obvious. “I think we have to get rid of it. If we want Danielle to come back.”
“But it’s so pretty. Washing it away would be such a shame. A waste.” Shelley looked close to tears.
“Shelley, if what Ralph is saying is true, and we wash it away, Danielle will bring it back again. That’s what you’re saying, right, Ralph?” The ten-year-old boy whose only intellectual claim to fame up until that point had been a strong understanding of how long it would take for a train leaving Winnipeg, travelling at a hundred and forty kilometres an hour, to arrive in Montreal, blinked at his mother’s question.
“I think so.”
Nodding with the conviction that only the mother of two children can possess, she left the half-chopped lettuce on the counter. “It makes sense to me. Tye?”
“I guess.”
“And I think we’re all in agreement that we would all want to see that Horse again, in whatever form.” Both Ralph and Shelley nodded, definitely hoping this wasn’t the last time they would see the Horse.
Under his breath, William registered his growing disagreement with the popular opinion of the house. “Christ, it’s just a stupid horse.” Nobody heard him. Liz was busy getting a small bucket from the closet, and Shelley was already running the hot water in the sink.
“Now?! You’re gonna do this now?” Once again, Tye, the father, had lost the thread of intention within his family.
“No time like the present. Only take a moment. Shelley, can you get me that sponge?”
Tye, still holding the mop, had to jump aside to make way for Liz and her three-quarters-full bucket heading past him for the Wall.
The daughter did as she was told, she, too, almost sideswiping her father as she rushed past. Ralph, Shelley, and Liz stood in front of the Horse, water slopping over the edge of the bucket and onto the floor. Tye and William stayed back, not really feeling the moment.
“Everybody, say your goodbyes.”
Silently, Ralph and Shelley paid their respects to Danielle’s soon-to-be-gone creation. Liz said a simple, “Bye, Horse” before condemning it to a soapy death. Anybody not familiar with recent events would have thought the farewell to a chalk image seemed unusually emotional. The first part of the beautiful beast to go was the tail. A wet and soapy sponge of death wiped it out of existence. Then came the rump and hind legs. Slowly, the creature they had all admired was being dissolved into dirty water that ran down the Wall and spread across the kitchen floor.
“So much for me mopping the floor.”
“The beauty of the situation is you can always mop it again.”
Next, Liz erased the flanks and back, followed by the front legs, the mane, and the neck. All that was left was the head, with those disturbing eyes. Liz found this the hardest part of the Wall to cleanse. But one swipe of the sponge of death and the Horse no longer existed. At least on the Thomas wall.
The Everything Wall was open for business once again.
As he watched the Horse disappear, William shook his head, not understanding the emotionality of things around him.
“Geez, it’s not like it’s the Mona Lisa or anything.”
Frustrated, he stormed into the living room. In front of his favourite spot on the couch was one of the horse books. He kicked it away with his foot. The Thomas house wasn’t as much fun for William this evening as it had been before.
THE NEXT DAY at school, Ralph kept his eyes open for Danielle, but she didn’t make an appearance. Shelley did the same, with the same results. Danielle was a no-show for the whole day. As usual,
William didn’t really notice or care. It wasn’t until the day after that Ralph caught sight of the little girl, walking into the schoolyard. She seemed to be limping, favouring her right foot. A few minutes early for school, he ran up to her, eager to share his news. At first, when she saw him approaching, it looked like she was ready to flee, a look of panic quickly crossing her face, but as Ralph got closer, Danielle seemed to recognize him and was less fidgety. She welcomed him with a slight smile.
“There you are! We’ve been looking for you!”
Danielle looked surprised. “Me? You were looking for me? I didn’t do anything.” The look of fear returned to her face, and, upon seeing it, Ralph instinctively tried to calm her.
“No, no. Everything’s okay. It’s just about the Everything Wall. We’ve washed it. No more Horse. You can come and draw on it again. If you want.”
They stood in the schoolyard, talking, almost like normal kids do, thought Danielle. Other kids from the village passed them by, intent on getting to school on time. A few wondered why Ralph was talking to that strange little Gaadaw girl. They weren’t related and had no reason to socialize. And many others still couldn’t believe that little girl in the odd-fitting clothes had managed to create the Horse they’d all seen staring back at them from the Thomas kitchen wall. But once out of sight, the thought of Danielle quickly evaporated from their consciousnesses as the reality of school and its normal stresses grew closer.
Danielle struggled to meet Ralph’s eyes. “I’m sorry I was so rude. I shouldn’t be. You and your family are very nice. It’s your Everything Wall. I’m sorry.” Danielle looked down at the ground again, still unwilling to meet the boy’s eyes, expecting a flood of criticism and anger at her earlier actions. Instead, he laughed. Not at her, but at what she’d said.
“You call that rude?! Wow, I wish everybody was that rude. Forget about it.”
Off in the distance, a dog barked. A recent bylaw requiring Otter Lake residents to keep their dogs penned or on a chain had not gone over well with local canine residents.
Chasing Painted Horses Page 10
