In Another Life

Her Girl

She loved nature, she did. But at the same time, people were amazing. They were loud and annoying sure but they were also complicated and determined with so many different levels. It was amazing. It was why she loved to come to this park. So many people came in, all with different stories and personalities and layers it was incredible. She liked people watching. 

If she was lucky some would even stay long enough for her to draw them. 

It was what Vic was doing when she first met her. She was focusing on a couple on a park bench on the other side of the fountain. They were facing her direction but didn't seem to notice her glancing at them every so often. She went back to her paper and added in the lines of the woman's scarf, shaded it in a little with her finger to make it look realistic. 

"What are you doing?" a small voice asked. 

Vic looked up. Standing a little ways away was a little girl with brown hair and hazel eyes set in a curious gaze. She was young, maybe seven or eight with baby fat and freckles. But she still seemed a little thin. It was a weekend so Vic wasn't too surprised to see her there.  

"Drawing," Vic answered. 

The girl titled her head. "What are you drawing?" 

Vic waved her over. The girl came over hesitantly, carefully. Vic pointed through the space in the spray of water to the couple. "You see those two people there?" The girl nodded. "I'm drawing them." 

"Do they know that?" she asked. 

Vic shook her head. "No." She flipped to another page in her sketchook of two older men playing chess. "They didn't know I was drawing them either but they still thought I did well." 

"Go back to the first one," the girl requested. Vic did so. "The tree behind them is closer." 

Vic looked back to see she was right, the tree was closer to the bench than she had drawn. Vic smiled at the girl. "Nice catch," Vic said. "What's your name?" 

"Mandy," she replied. 

"I'm Vic."

Mandy's brows furrowed. "That's a boy's name." 

Vic chuckled. "It can be a girl's name too, silly." 

"Like how there's an Avery that's a boy in my class?" she asked. 

Vic nodded. "Just like Avery that's a boy." 

"Is it okay if I sit with you for a bit?" the girl asked in a quiet voice. 

Vic nodded and moved her bag. The girl put her hands on the stone edge of the fountain and pushed herself up. Vic went back to her drawing, erasing the tree and doing it closer. 

"What are you gonna do with the drawing?" Mandy asked. 

Vic shrugged. "Depends what the couple says. If they're okay with me selling it, I will. But I'll keep it private if they prefer that. Made some money in Paris that way." 

"Where's Paris?" Mandy questioned. 

"It's in France," Vic explained. "It's all the way across the ocean. There's a lot of complicated food, a lot of beautiful art, a lot of beautiful people and some pretty cool buildings too." 

"Really?" she asked. 

Vic nodded. "It was pretty cool. But I wanted to see more of the world so I kept going." She redrew the leaves on a branch and added the shading of the trunk. 

"What else did you see?" Vic looked up to see Mandy looking at her with wonder in her eyes like Vic was a magic storybook. 

"So much," Vic said. "I saw pyramids in Egypt, temples in Greece, fields in the Netherlands, gardens in China, rivers in India, giant and complicated buildings in Japan, beaches in the Carribean. There was so much."