Page 52 of Give Me a Reason

When I hung up, I handed Aria my phone. “You can go home. It looks like I won’t be needing you tonight.”

When the room remained quiet, I adjusted the ice pack and opened my eyes. “What?”

Aria exchanged a look with Paisley. “You don’t look like you’re in any shape to take care of Paisley.”

I waved her off. “It’s fine. I’ve got her.”

“Do you want her to get sick?”

I sighed; she wasn’t playing fair. “Fine. You can stay.”

Paisley cheered, and I winced at the loud noise.

“You want to go upstairs?” Aria asked softly.

“Not yet.” It was too early to go to sleep for the night, and I really wanted to stay with them.

“Let me know if you change your mind or if you need anything.”

“I’m good for now.” I sat up a bit to drink out of the glass of water she set on the table for me.

“What are you working on, Paisley?” Aria asked.

“I’m coloring this book.” Paisley explained how the same page was included twice in the book, one had numbers and one didn’t. She preferred coloring with the numbers so she didn’t mess up, but I liked choosing my own colors. We tended to color our own pages.

“Do you mind if I color your page?” Aria asked me with a nudge to my side.

“Nope.” My throat was still scratchy, but at least I didn’t feel nauseous. Stomach viruses were the scariest things that came into this house.

Aria and Paisley were quiet for a while. All I heard was scribbling on paper and the occasional question about the color of the markers.

I drifted in and out of consciousness. I liked listening to their voices. It was soothing, and it was nice that Aria was here to help.

At some point, I turned on my side to face them, but I couldn’t open my eyes. They felt too heavy for that. I should probably have taken some pain medication, but it felt like too much to sit up and ask Aria to get it for me. I’d do it soon.

“Did you know that I draw cartoons?” Aria asked a short time later.

“You do?” Paisley asked, her voice filled with wonder.

Aria laughed. “Want to see some of my drawings? I always carry a sketchbook in my purse. Let me get it.”

I was surprised she kept it with her at all times. I wanted to see them myself, but I couldn’t lift my head.

I heard some rustling, and I sensed that they were sitting next to each other to look at the images.

“These are my attempts at facial expressions. I like to get the emotions just right. When you tell a story through pictures instead of words, it has to be obvious if the character is sad, happy, angry, or whatever.”

“That’s so cool. These look like real cartoons.”

“I think I read somewhere that you should draw the oval or circle for the face and then these lines before you draw the eyes, nose, or whatever. You can make a character identifiable by giving them a particular nose or hairstyle.”

“I never even thought of it that way.”

“I had a lot of time to myself as a kid, and I’d look at the cartoons, examining what made them unique. Was it the images or the words that made them funny?”

“Which was it?”

“I think it’s a little bit of both, but graphic novels don’t have to be funny. They can be a range of emotions, just like any characters in a chapter book.”

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