Page 38 of The Singing Trees
Once Emma had closed the door behind her, Thomas took Annalisa’s hand. “She’s coming around, isn’t she?”
“Must be the weather,” Annalisa said, tracing a shape on his chest.
Thomas brushed her hair away and kissed her forehead. “I think it’s you. She really looks up to you, you know. And loves coming over here. You’ve awakened her.”
“I like having her here,” she said, thinking she didn’t deserve that much praise. “Who else do I have that will paintandmake fun of sports with me?”
He shook his head at the dig.
“So...” Annalisa started, changing the subject, “I have something that’s kind of a big deal to ask you.”
He cocked his head. “Yeah?”
Pulling her hand away, she crossed her arms and stared into his eyes. “How would you feel about going with me to Sharon Maxwell’s art show in April?”
His eyes widened. “I never thought you would ask.”
Annalisa hadn’t been sure, either, but now she was. It wasn’t exactly like committing to moving in together, but it was a big step for her.She was letting him into her art world. Joking, she said, “Well, I do need a ride.”
“Ah,” he said, not taking offense. “And here I was thinking you were desperate to hear more of my art critiques.”
A laugh leaped out of her. “That too.” She kissed him, feeling the sun spraying down on them as if they were in the spotlight of love. “I’m really excited to go with you, seriously.”
Just then, Emma came back out to join them. “All right, Thomas,” she said. “Time to go. Girls only for a while.”
Thomas grinned as he looked to his sister, then to Annalisa and back. “So that’s how it is...I see. Just let me know if you girls want to talk hockey sometime. I can always hang around.”
Annalisa put her arm around Emma. “Bye-bye, Thomas.”
The two girls waved at him in sync.
Annalisa could feel how happy he was to see his sister in this way, and he met her eyes one last time before he drove away. Just then, a gust of wind came through and tickled the chimes, and Annalisa’s first thought was that she wished her mother could have met Thomas. She definitely would have approved.
As she let go of Emma, Annalisa noticed—and not for the first time—how hard it was for Emma to be apart from her brother, even for a couple of hours. The girl watched her brother’s car all the way until the Beetle disappeared. This nearly unhealthy connection—or maybe reliance was a better word?—was a big part of what had worried her when Thomas had suggested he follow Annalisa to Portland. Not that it was Annalisa’s business exactly, but Emma would not take it well. Gosh, at this point, Annalisa worried that Emma wouldn’t take it well when Annalisa left for Portland. What could she do now, though? Stop inviting her over?
“Ready to get started?” Annalisa asked. She reached for a tube of brown paint and squeezed a blob onto the palette. “I thought we’d practice trees today...what with the leaves finally coming back.”
“Have these always been here?” Emma asked, clearly not listening.
Annalisa turned to find her mesmerized by the wind chimes. The breeze was still tickling them, and the antique spoons danced around the silver bells. “My mother and I made those a long time ago.”
Emma was glued to them. “The sound is...so pretty. I love them.”
Annalisa took a moment to appreciate them, too, falling back through the years. “That’s my mother’s spirit you hear.”
The girl smiled. After listening for a little longer, she said, “I could sit back and close my eyes and listen to them all day.”
“That’s kind of what I do,” Annalisa admitted, going back to getting the paints ready. “My cousin sucked on a blanket—hiscoperta, he called it—until he was like five or six. That’s what the sound is for me, I guess. It puts me right back in my mother’s arms. She and I used to listen to them as we painted.”
“Imagine what it would be like if there were thousands of them together,” Emma pondered out loud. “I bet it would be magical.”
Annalisa stopped. She had never really thought about it and loved the idea. The vision came alive in her imagination.
“One day I’m going to do just that,” Emma said with a rare and strong determination. “One day I’m going to have an entire choir of them, like a big forest of singing trees, and I’m going to sit out there for hours and listen and let the world go.”
The idea nearly made Annalisa cry. She turned back to Emma, who’d closed her eyes to bask in the song. “What an amazing thought.”
Emma whispered, “I can hear them now.”
