Radiant Read Free Page B

again. "I would love to do something big like this."
    "What would you make?" he asked.
    Mary thought for a moment. "Maybe a mobile of the planets. Kinda like this sketch I did for a painting that never got made." She pulled out her old sketchbook and showed him the page.
    " That would be awesome," Ben said. "It would make a much better mobile than a painting. You should do it."
    "You think so?" she asked. "Well, I can't at home. There's no room. And my art teacher doesn't have power tools and stuff like that."
    "You can use my workspace and tools at no charge," he offered. "And I can get you the same discount I use on my own supplies."
    "Really?" she said. "You would do that?"
    He chuckled. "Sure . I know things are tight when you're reusing sketch paper." He flipped through a couple pages of her old book with the telltale eraser marks.
    She smiled. "Thanks. I'll ask my mom."
    Mary paid for the new sketchbook and red paint before going to catch the next bus. She got off a couple blocks later and walked to a pleasant building with a sign that said "Agape Retirement Home."
    A tiny Filipino woman behind the front desk smiled when she came in. "Hi, Mary."
    " Hi, Ms. Nancy," she said as she signed the visitor's log. "Do you know where my grandmother is?"
    " She's in the courtyard painting and waiting for you."
    Mary thanked her. In a sunny corner of the courtyard, Ba sat before a canvas propped up on a tabletop easel. Her black and gray hair was pinned into a bun behind her head.
    Good, Mary thought. That was a sign that Ba was feeling well today. Still, she made sure to walk around to the front so that Ba could see her. Mary learned a long time ago not to approach her from behind. "Hi Ba."
    Ba looked up and smiled. "Hi Con," she answered, using the Vietnamese word for "child." "How was school today?"
    " It's Saturday. I didn't go to school." She kissed her on the cheek before settling into the next chair.
    Ba looked at her curiously. "What happened to your hands?"
    Mary had tried to cover her injuries with a long sleeve shirt, but it didn't reach the bandages on her hands. She and Mom had agreed not to tell Ba about the accident. They didn't know how she would react. "I fell down in the street on the way to school."
    Ba added some paint onto her brush. "The way you just said that sounded like you were hiding something."
    That was one annoying thing about Ba. When she was in her right mind, you couldn't hide anything from her at all.
    " Are you okay?" Ba asked.
    " I'm fine." But of course Mary was fine. Carter was the one who wasn't okay. She started getting depressed just thinking about him again, so she quickly opened her portfolio to get her mind on something else. "I brought my nebula. You remember I told you about the picture I found on the NASA website?" She took out a canvas and placed it on the table. It wasn't finished yet, but this was Ba. She'd seen pretty much all of Mary's projects before they were finished.
    " That's coming along wonderfully!" Ba said. "It's just like looking through your telescope on the roof."
    Mary laughed. "I don't think the telescope is strong enough for that. "
    " Are you entering it in the school contest?" Ba asked. "You should also enter the one you did of the Northern Lights."
    Mary unrolled her brush bag and took out a round brush. "I'd never win."
    " You don't know that until you've tried," Ba said. "Paintings are meant to be seen, Con. You should let the world see the beautiful things you make."
    Mary took the new tube of red paint and squeezed some onto an empty spot of Ba's palette. She mixed in a touch of black to make crimson. As the paint came together, she realized it was the same shade of blood she had seen on Carter's body at the accident.
    No matter what she did, she couldn't get away from him.
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- 5 -
    Reflections
    "Are you sure you don't want to take another day off?" Mom asked on Monday morning.
    " If I stay home any longer, I'll jump out the