The Painters


By Beth Kander

They had never painted the place before. They wound up there years ago, unexpectedly. Got used to it. Then one day it was sleepily raining, and the walls within were just as depressing, and no one remembers who shouted “LET’S PAINT!” but suddenly there were brushes, rollers, deep green and rich mahogany hues. The walls went from drab, stained, pale half-yellow to alive. The mood went from tired and brittle to electric. Someone painted a door. "Oh," they wept with relief, "I thought we'd forgotten how!" As the thunderless rain yawned outside, they walked through the door and were gone.





Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

You Need To Let My Daughter Tell You No

Image
Okay.

You're not going to like this, but hear me out. I need you to let my daughter tell you no. 

Yes. You. 
I'm not addressing the random stranger at the grocery store, the bus driver, the old ladies at the diner who squeal with delight when we walk past their table. I'm not talking to strangers (for the record, they're definitely not allowed to just randomly come up and touch her, and trust me, that enforcement is something I'm on top of every.single.day.). 
I'm talking to you, the adult in her life who genuinely adores her, who can't wait to squeeze her, who fiercely wants her to cuddle up to you. I understand that your motives are pure. I appreciate how much you love my child. 
And that's why I need you to listen to me, and listen to her when she tells you no. 
She is small. She is adorable. I absolutely get your urge to want to hug her and hold her. She is the most huggable kid that has ever existed. But she is a person. She is her own person. She is a…
Read more

I’ll never get all the laundry done

Image
I’ll never get all the laundry done. And there will always be more dishes. As soon as I have one load started, she’s dripped ice cream onto her shirt, proudly displaying a bowl, spoon, face, and outfit that all need to be cleaned. Nothing will ever, all-the-way, be cleaned. She’ll always be sleeping in something, spilling something, eating something, adventuring in something. There are toys everywhere, avalanches of artwork, broken crayons, crumbs. That’s my life right now. And sometimes I let the shambles stress me out.  But I shouldn’t because one day,  I’ll get all caught up on all the laundry, and all the dishes.  The clothes will all be put away.  The drying rack will be emptied. I’ll turn around, waiting to see the newly-manufactured mess—and it won’t be there. Because she won’t be there. She’ll be out with friends at college in her own apartment adventuring somewhere other than right where I am. And now I need a tissue,  but we’re out of tissues, because we’re always running o…
Read more

You Know You Want Me

Image
by Beth Kander

It isn't a maternity shirt. There's no give to it; it was never designed to accommodate this unexpected situation. The pale pink fabric is taut across her ballooning belly, its seams stretched and angled. Rounded flesh protrudes from beneath the border of the overworked shirt, skin still seeking solace past the point where the fabric ends. The shirt is so strained, so overburdened, it bears no resemblance to how it must have looked in its own infancy, hanging on a rack or folded neatly beside all its identical siblings.
The woman wearing the tight shirt shifts, scratching the exposed section of her belly, letting her hand linger there only momentarily before pulling it away. Her pants are sweatpants, the waistband rolled down to allow room for the same bulging stretch of stomach that eludes full coverage by the shirt. Below the sweatpants, her swollen feet overfill her purple dollar store flip-flops. Above the shirt, her hair is unapologetically magenta. Her eyeli…
Read more