Crash

Painting by Artist Lisa Rae Winant

Image used by permission of the Artist

12 x 8 / oil on panel

And an accompanying micro-fiction piece by me:

There was no rhyme or reason behind her madness. She just knew how she felt and she had been around for a long time so she thought that people should listen. She was, after all, a woman of grace and intuition. Hundreds of children had benefited from Gale’s concern over the years but her own had to suffer. Though it was only a bit, it was enough to stunt their growth, because they had to focus so much of their energy into figuring her out; into figuring themselves out. Of course, when you rely on an antagonistic mixture of two people to prepare your delicate self for the world, the pressure can be like poison.

The youngest was the most unfortunate of all. Bessie was, ultimately, the one who was punished for her sisters mistakes because it took her mother and father so long to develop a plan. There was no chance of Bessie becoming a fuck up even though the most influential people in her life hadn’t taken their own lives very seriously. Her imagination was her only escape. When she met her best friend in kindergarten it was clear that the two would have been bound together like glue if it weren’t for their parents. They were like soul sisters from the start. Bessie would beg her mother to take her to Mary’s house for a sleepover and vowed that they would both be in bed by at least seven o‘ clock. In the basement they acted out skits of runaway slaves and mean high school chicks that got all the boys.

One year, when Bessie’s mother and father took the girls on vacation to a private beach house on the Cape, she and Mary’s little feet glided along the shoreline more quickly than they ever thought possible. They had never felt such freedom before. The girls took it upon themselves to venture onto the jetty but by the time they realized they were in over their heads the crashing waves had nearly sucked them both under. Gale came running out of the house as gracefully as a bull in a china shop the moment she caught glimpse of their endeavor. It’s not that they hadn’t been aware of the power that came from deep within the sea, Bessie’s mother had warned them of it many times, and that is precisely what drew them to it.

Mary wasn’t afraid for Bessie as she was lying in the sand without any sign of life. Bessie was invincible in Mary’s eyes and she couldn’t understand the fearful tears streaming down Gale’s face. Mary put one hand on Gale’s shoulder and the other on Bessie’s. Soon Bessie was coughing and laughing and rolling over onto her side all at once. Gale’s face dropped and her eyes suddenly went dry. Everything that just happened was replaying in her head while she tried to understand how the situation managed to escalate.

There was one thing she knew for sure; her child would never be put in harms way again.