by G. P. Ching
* * * * *
Malini couldn’t wait to help Jacob shop. She babbled endlessly about how much fun they’d have this summer, now that he had a car, and how cool his room was going to be. But the initial excitement he’d felt about the car and his new room gave way to anxious contemplation about the future. Tomorrow, he would meet the medicine woman.
Every day here, every moment, he grew more attached to John and Malini. If the medicine woman knew where his mother was, what would happen then? How would he leave them? And, what about when he found his mom? The apartment belonged to someone else now. Where would they live?
“What color are you thinking?” Malini said, handing him an assortment of cardboard paint swatches. They stood before a rack of thousands of two-inch color cards competing for their attention. He’d never known there were so many colors to choose from.
“I’m not sure. Not pink. How about black?”
“Too dark. It would look like a cave.”
“What do you think then?”
Malini shifted the swatches between her fingers: deep burgundy, rich mahogany, dark greens and blues. “Don’t get angry at me because I know you don’t like to talk about it but ever since that day with Dane and the water … I just think blue.” She held up a dark grayish blue color called “stormy sea.”
He took the swatch from her hand. The color was not something he’d have picked for himself but it gave him a calm feeling.
“It’s perfect,” he said, in a voice barely above a whisper. He moved closer to her. “I had no idea what I wanted until just now. This is exactly it. You know me better than I do.”
He was inches from her now, taking in the sweet genuineness that was only Malini’s. His words were true and not just about the paint. It was at that moment that he decided he wouldn’t leave her behind. One way or another he would find a way to keep her with him.
“What do we do next? Does the paint come in this color?”
“No, they have to mix it.”
“How do they do that?”
“Just trust me,” she said, lifting the card from his fingers. “I’ll get it.”
“You’re amazing, Malini,” Jacob said.
“Don’t you forget it,” she replied. She cast a sassy grin over her shoulder as she moved toward the paint counter.
