SHE - HS

CHAPTER 48: River

first off, let me say HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! whether you are celebrating to not, I just want to you know that I am SO SO SO SOOO THANKFUL for each and every one of you!!  you have all changed my life and I am so happy to be back to writing. I hope you are liking the book and I can't wait for more. 

"So," Charlie asks as he takes another bite from his sandwich, "are you originally from LA?"

"No, I'm from a small town in Illinois called Greenville," I explain and he gives me a look showing he is listening. "The population is like six thousand, so pretty different from LA." he gestured for me to continue. "I grew up there, went to Greenville High school, then went to Illinois University, got my degree and within two years I landed my teaching job in LA. That's my story," I tell him and he nods.

"I think you're missing a little bit of the story there," he tells me and I furrow my brow at him. "When did art come into play?"

"Oh," I say, wiping my mouth with a napkin, "well art has kinda always been there. I loved to draw when I was around three. I got so good at it that around 12, my mom got me into some art classes on the weekends. I continued to draw then I started to paint some of my drawings. I loved miing colors and matching them with what I thought fit perfectly in the drawing. We use to have this big tree in our back years, and everytime the leaves changed on it, I would go out and paint a picture of it. We ended up cutting the tree down and my dad was pretty upset about it, so that year for christmas I put all the paintings together in a memory book and gave it to him."

"That was nice of you," he chimes in.

"Yeah," I agree, "my dad loved it so much he actually started crying. He always had a deep connection with the tree."

"How so?" charlie asks.

"Well, he would tell us these stories about how he would go to the tree and talk to it. The first time he went out there it was when him and mom had a big fight. He went out there and sat under the tree and started praying. He prayed that everything would be alright and that mom would be happy again. Once he was done praying, a orange leaf fell from the tree." he looks at me invested.

"What was so crazy about an orange leaf felling from a tree?" he asked.

"It was in the middle of summertime," i explain. Just then, I see his eyes go wide and his mouth falls open. "Yeah," I chuckle. "So, when my dad went back inside, my mother sat him down and they talked things out and things were happy again. Just like he wanted them to be."

"Wow, it was a magic tree," he says in awe of my story.

"Pretty much," I say, taking a sip of my water, "he told us he went back there and prayed right before they found out that my mom was pregnant with me and when they were pregnant with Lucas, so it was very special to us. Not to mention it was a beautiful tree."

"That is an incredible story, I have chills," he tells me.

"Yeah, dad always use to tell the best stories."

"Use to?" he asks.

"Yeah, he passed away a while ago, but I don't wanna get into that right now," I say and he nods his head, "what about you? What's the story behind charlie..."

"Gillespie," he finishes, "and nothing really. I was born in canada, moved to LA when I was about 10 and traveled the world time I was 21. Then my dad asked me to halp with the LACMA and I've been there ever since."

"What about school?" I ask, " did you ever go?"

"I was home schooled and graduated when I was 16. I wanted to go to college but my dad said no because he kenw I would be running one of his museums with him one day. I spend almost everyday in different museums, listening to people talk about them and the meaning behind each one, so you could say I am a pro at knowing paintings," he says, puffing his chest out. I giggle at his actions and take the last bite of mt sandwich.