In Her Eyes ✔~ trixya

A Worried Mother's Warning

Katya had woken up with the sunrise with a smile on her face. Like a flash of lightning it had hit her what her painting was missing, and so she had quietly gotten out of bed, left her sleeping lover without a word, and made her way through the park towards the local zoo once again. 

"Katya?" She heard a familiar voice call, causing her to turn around. "Oh, it is you! Why on earth are you out walking so early in the morning?" 

"Why are you out walking so early, mother?" Katya replied.

"It is Monday, Katya, you know I always have an early walk on Monday mornings to see the tailor's new fabrics before anyone else gets a chance to." Her mother said, seeming slightly insulted by her daughter's faulty memory.

"My apologies, I did not realize it was Monday. In my mind it is Sunday still."

"Of course it is." Her mother replied with a slight laugh, shaking her head at the notion. "You have always craved for Sundays to be endless, but the peace of a Sunday afternoon cannot last forever, Katya."

"Why not?" 

"Life is not peaceful." Mrs. Zamolodchikova simply said.

"It can be, I'll make it so. On my canvas there shall be an eternal Sunday with a perfect park filled with people at peace." Katya told her.

"Katya... your canvas is not real, it is not a life you can live." 

"I do live it, mother. In perfect shades of blue and yellow and red combined by shadow and light I live it in every waking moment!" Katya argued. 

"So why are you not with it now then, dear?" Her mother replied. 

"I am collecting moments for it, and speaking of which; I should get going. I don't want to loose the morning light." 

"Where is it you're going then? To collect these moments?" Mrs. Zamolodchikova asked.

"The zoo."  Katya replied. "I need to see the monkeys." 

"The zoo again? Without Trixie? Where is she anyways?" 

"Sleeping. And yes, without her, I am quite capable of painting without having her by my side, mother." Katya told her.

"That's not what I meant, Katya. People will talk if they see you at the zoo, you know they will. They will wonder why you are there by yourself, they'll think you have taken a new lover, they will make Trixie out to be a fool." Her mother warned.

"Well, I have not, so there is no reason to worry." Katya replied, unwilling to see how her artistic needs could harm others.

"There is every reason! Katya, do you not realize what that girl has given up for your sake? Do you truly wish to do her reputation more harm? People will question her absence, they will never believe that you simply went there for the sake of the monkeys, and they will start talking. Trixie will be hurt, Katya, the rumors alone will break her! Does that not bother you?"

"Do not raise your voice at me, mother. We are in public after all, and we wouldn't want people to start talking, would we?" Katya said in a sarcastic tone.

"Katya... Sometimes you are your own worst enemy." Her mother said with a sigh. "Go to the zoo if you wish it, but do not say I did not warn you of the consequences. You have done things like this too many times, Katya, and you already have a target on your back because of who you are. People will use this against you and Trixie will be the one who will end up being hurt the most."

"Trixie will be fine." Katya mumbled.

"You may keep insisting on that, but it will not make it true. I fear you'll drive her away with this, Katya." 

"It is true. She wouldn't leave me." Katya insisted, ignoring that little voice of doubt in the back of her mind which told her otherwise.

"I hope you are right." Her mother replied. "I must go, and you must reach the zoo before the morning light leaves." 

"Yes, that I must. It was nice to see you, mother." Katya said, happy the tension had eased at least a little.

"Nice to see you too, dear." Mrs. Zamolodchikova said before walking away, leaving her daughter behind with a thousand thoughts circling around in her brain. 

"She wouldn't.... she wouldn't leave...." Katya mumbled to herself. "Enough of this, Katya. Focus. The zoo, Katya, the painting needs monkeys." 

And so to the zoo she went, her pencils and brushes capturing the images of monkeys all day in all types of light, the hours passing without Katya realizing.