33. Hope

There is a limited take-up for my little art class. I tried to be diplomatic and not time it for Vera’s meditation. Maybe next time I will. Especially if I see her pawing Cal again. Just because I encouraged him to try that tactic doesn’t mean I enjoy seeing it in action.

I set the wrinkled Laurel and Rex up with some charcoals and try my best to talk them through a still life. I took some classes as a teen, and I try to remember the best bits from the instructor.

Soon, I have two happy little fossils sketching two potatoes. It should have been a more dramatic fruit, but I had to work with what the stores gave me.

The three of us fell into a quiet space, heads full of lines and shadows. I worked on the piece of my mother, and they focused on the knobbly bits of the brown vegetable. Footsteps sounded, and I looked up, hoping as always that it was Cal. Sadly, the beige-wrapped, silver-haired Elvie stuck her head through and exclaimed, “oh how fantastic! I saw your poster!”

“It’s jus