The Current Between Us

“Hunter, use all the brushes you want, you don’t have to use the same one over and over. It’ll help you keep the color exactly like you want them on the page. Cool?” Gage said, and grinned as Hunter turned toward him with the biggest smile ever. His smile looked exactly like Em’s, which looked exactly like their father’s and it completely took his breath away.

“To answer your question, Hunter, I have lots of nieces and nephews who stop by all the time. I learned to keep them busy or they get bored and loud,” Gage said, turning his attention to Em, coloring away in her book.

“My daddy says we get loud, too. Do you have daughters or sons?” Em asked, concentrating hard on her page, choosing the colors exactly how she thought the page should look. He loved the intensity she used in judging which color should go where.

“Nope, not any,” Gage said, leaning over and pointing to a color Em might like to use for the sky.

“Are you married?” Hunter asked, still concentrating hard on his painting.

“Nope, not yet,” Gage said, placing a couple more paint brushes out for Hunter. The boy took him seriously when he said use a new brush for every color. Six used brushes were lying on the paper towels already.

“Are you going to get married?” Em asked. Gage smiled, feeling a little double teamed by their shooting questions about such a personal topic.

“Maybe someday, if I meet the right person,” Gage said, and showed Em another color she might like for the grass on the picture.

“Oh! Em just picked out Barbie birthday decorations. I knew you would pick Barbie, Em,” Hunter said. He kept talking and painting, never taking his eyes from the book. “Her birthday’s next Sunday. It’s the day our mom died, but we don’t talk about it. We just talk about Emalynn’s birthday. Right, Em?” Hunter asked, and Emalynn nodded her head, looking through the colors, finally picking the pinkest of the pink for the dress. Gage watched the kids closely. They were talking of their mother and her death, keeping it all very casual. The words reached out and touched his soul, hurting his heart. He wasn’t sure what to say.

“It’s the day we came to live with Daddy. I was just born,” Em said, working the pink back and forth on the page, coloring the dress in. For one of the first times in his life, Gage didn’t know how to respond. Their mother must have died giving birth to Em, and it broke his heart. He looked back and forth between the two of them, judging their reaction to what Em had just said.

“Do you like living with your dad and step mom?” Gage finally asked, needing to say something to fill in the desolate quiet after the kids dropped their little bomb. For the first time since she started the coloring, Em looked up, concentration clear on her face, but she looked confused.

“We don’t have a mom,” she said. Hunter jumped right in to explain.

“We have Rhonny and Auntie Sophia. Daddy calls her Auntie Crazy because she tries to make Daddy go on dates with her friends, and he doesn’t want to. But we can’t call her that, she makes us call her Auntie Sophia,” Hunter said. They both stopped coloring and were looking at him, questioning his question. He wasn’t sure why it seemed an odd question to them, so he went for a different angle.

“How old are you going to be on your birthday?” he asked.

“Four,” she said back, staring at him.

“How old are you, Hunter?” Gage asked, turning to him.

“I just turned six,” he said, and they were both quietly staring at him.

“So that’s first grade?”

“No, I’m in kindergarten. School’s out soon and I’m going to be in first grade. My teacher says I’m smart enough to be in first grade though. I can read, want me to?” Hunter didn’t wait, but began sounding out words from the coloring book he’d chosen.

“He isn’t very good at reading,” Em said and turned her attention back to the coloring book.

“I am too! Daddy says I’m very good,” Hunter shot back, anger filling his words.

“Wait, hold up. I think you did great, Hunter. Keep going, Em, try this color, too. Look, let me show you. See how this is a little lighter pink than the one you’re using? Color this one like this,” Gage said, making several shading strokes on the page and Em’s eyes lit up in response.

“I can do that.” Em picked up the color and began copying his stroke in earnest, awe lighting her features.

“Daddy’s taking us to McDonald’s when he’s done,” Hunter blurted out, giving up on the reading.

“He is? You sound lucky,” Gage said, picking up the paint brush, handing it back to Hunter. If he could get them back working their papers, maybe he could get them back on the subject of their father.

“He said it was our reward if we acted good,” Hunter said. He took the brush, keeping his eyes focused on Gage.

“Did we act good?” Em asked. Again they were both looking at him and not their papers which were his target goals.

“I think you’re acting great,” Gage said.

“Do you want to come to McDonald’s too, because you’re acting good, too? And it’s lots of fun,” Em asked, her face back to an excited glow.

“I don’t want to get in the way,” Gage said, smiling back at her. Her invitation was so sweetly offered, he couldn’t help but run a hand down her long hair, while the lights shot back to life in the gallery.

“You should come to McDonald’s so daddy has someone to talk to. Then we can play longer,” Hunter said.

“Yeah, you should come so we can play longer,” Em said, nodding her head. “Will you come?”

“I guess I can do it to help such a worthy cause,” Gage said, laughing at their excitement.

“Okay, you guys, clean up your mess. Let’s get out of Mr. Synclair’s hair.” Trent said, coming into the room, not looking at anyone as he began loading up the spilled box with the coloring books from the table. “You’re back up and running. There was a faulty cell in the breaker. You’re replaced and everything’s running fine. You can call me if anything else happens and I’ll be right back out.”