Gracie forgot about everything when the plane roared down the runway. At first, she felt the sluggish pull of earth; then the plane rose, heavy and then growing lighter the higher it went. She looked down and wondered at how cars and houses got smaller, and then the plane went into the clouds. It kept going up and up. Gracie prayed they would go to heaven to see Mommy and Jesus.
YOSEMITE HELD an awe-inspiring beauty with its hanging valleys, waterfalls, giant granite domes, and moraines, but Roman couldn’t keep his eyes off Grace. She was clearly enjoying herself, and it shone in her face.
“If I had your talent, Roman, I’d be painting this.” She spread her arms, encompassing the valley in front of them.
“And get nowhere. It’s been done a thousand times.” He pocketed his phone and joined her.
She looked at him. “What were you doing? Texting a girlfriend?”
“I don’t have a girlfriend.” He smiled slightly. “Not the kind you mean, anyway.”
“Then why do you always have that thing in your hand? You’re missing everything!”
He’d seen it before, but saw it differently this time. “Half Dome is pretty spectacular. I wouldn’t mind climbing that rock someday.”
“You’d need a lot of mountain-climbing experience.”
“I used to climb tall buildings.”
“Okay, Superman.”
He liked her smile. “They weren’t that tall. Five or six stories.” He looked up at Half Dome. “I wanted to do heaven spots. The higher, the better.” He glanced at her. “Earn street cred.” She didn’t understand a word he said, and he wasn’t ready to explain. “Never mind. Why don’t we get back on the road and cover some more ground before we call it a day?”
She gazed at Half Dome. “What a pity.”
“You’re the one who has to be back by Friday.”
“Yes. I do. Can you wait one minute?” She walked over to the stream and picked out a small stone.
“What’re you going to do with that?”
“Remember Yosemite.”
They were well on their way when Grace asked him to pull over. She just wanted a few minutes to see a cirque lake. Roman followed her to the edge. Grace stood looking up at the mountain and the mirror image on the surface of the water. “It’s like an oval mirror. It doubles the beauty.”
It was a magnificent scene. “I’d never attempt to paint this. I couldn’t come close to what we’re seeing.”
She faced him. “No one could.”
“Some come close.”
“Isn’t art all about interpretation?”
“Partly.” He sat on a boulder.
She looked back at the lake. “I should’ve bought postcards.” She took out her phone and took a few pictures, then came over and sat beside him. “Tell me about your paintings. I don’t understand them, you know. The mural, yes. The great migration, and it’s beautiful. Your other work baffles me.”
Leaning forward, he rested his forearms on his knees. “They’re people I’ve known, exposed, but disguised so no one can recognize them.” He gave a rueful laugh. “By the time I’m done painting, I don’t even know who they are.”
“Who were they when you started?”
His mother, the landlord of the Tenderloin apartment house, foster family members, CPS workers, the girl who introduced him to sex, gang friends, and a wannabe tagger who didn’t know how to stay alive. “Some I want to remember; others I wish I could forget.”
Scooping up a rock, he stood and sent it skipping across the water. Concentric circles spread, ruining the mirror image. He picked up a white stone and tossed it to her. “For your collection. We’d better go.”
They reached the top of Tioga Pass, and Roman grinned at her. “Hang on. It’s going to be a scary ride down.”
“You can see for miles!”
“That’s Mono Lake down there.” The car hugged the curves on the steep grade. She looked more excited than afraid. “I’ll bet you like roller-coaster rides.”
“I’ve never been on one.”
The tires squealed as Roman took another curve. He heard Grace’s intake of breath and slowed on the next one. “No trips to amusement parks or county fairs?”
“No trips anywhere. My aunt didn’t take a lot of time off, and I found a job as soon as I was old enough for a work permit.”
“And when you were married?”