The Earth Painter

by Melissa Turner Lee

  I glared at Theo. “This is your home. So…what are you? A ghost? An angel?”

  He smiled. “Nothing so ghoulish or heavenly.” Theo looked around the way I had before I’d opened the auditorium door. “I’m…” he hesitated and glanced about again, “…a painter.”

  He stood there staring at me like I should understand, but all I could do was stare back at him. Had I missed something? “Yes, I know you paint. I’ve seen your work.”

  Theo looked around his ultra white home. “Sorry, I can’t offer you a chair or even a tree stump.” He motioned towards the floor that was white nothingness too. “Want to have a seat? This will take a while.”

  We both sat with our legs crossed before he continued. “I’m not a painter like people mean when they say it. When a person says it, he means he is a human who paints not some other type of being other than human. On the other hand, I am not human at all. I am a painter.”

  “But what does that mean? What’s a painter? Are you aliens or…?” I couldn’t think of anything else supernatural to ask about.

  Theo looked away then back at me. “I’m not honestly sure if this is against the rules—me telling you all this. I’m not supposed to draw attention to myself. Painters are not invisible, but we are unnoticeable and are not allowed to do anything to alter that. We register, in the mind, in the same way those silly pictures and messages they used to stick in movies to make people buy popcorn do. Humans are aware of us on some level but not on the conscious level. We are forbidden to seek attention from the humans. I’ve sat on the stage through every drama, choir, band and orchestra practice for decades. I’ve been there through assemblies and pageants, and no one has noticed me there until you.”

  He looked more directly into my eyes. “I don’t think I did anything unusual to get your attention. I’m still not sure why you noticed me.” He looked at me for several minutes, as if he could figure it out if he stared at me long enough before he continued.

  “But since you noticed me on your own, I didn’t think just talking to you was breaking the rule. Now, I’m not so sure about this.”

  I thought back to our first meeting on the stage below. “You just sat there the first day, and I saw you.” I couldn’t think of anything odd he did. “And today, I followed you up here, you didn’t invite me.”

  He hesitated just a moment before standing and walking away. Then he turned back to me to speak. “Long ago, before there was Earth or a solar system, there was the Sculptor. He got the idea to sculpt a giant sphere, but it was plain, lifeless and uninteresting. He wanted to make something new, unlike anything he’d ever made before. So he sculpted three beings called painters and gave us each an assistant called a Khai-Ree. Each painter was animated along with his Khai-Ree. Painters were granted high levels of creativity and visions of things that were not yet and the desire to paint them and make them real.

  “Khai-Ree were given the ability to organize. They can also paint copies of existing work, but they have no inner creativity. They see only lines, shadows and shapes and replicate it. I was assigned the land and all that would live on it. Fritz was assigned water and Walden—the sky.”

  I looked around. “Do the other painters live up here with you?”

  Theo came back to sit down. “No, Fritz fell out of favor with the Sculptor for some gross violations. Some say he’s gone mad. Walden is a bit of a mystery. There is a chance she’s working again, but she can’t tell us. She and her Khai-Ree hang out in space with Physics and Astronomy. The four of them go back and forth between deep space and Earth acting like a bunch of human girls running back and forth to the restroom together.” He rolled his eyes. “All the shushing, giggling and inside jokes get a bit annoying. We think the invention of telescopes and space exploration brought Walden out of retirement, but like I said, she can’t say yes or no about it…Sculptor’s orders.”

  I sat there for a second processing what he had just said. He was a painter—one of three who painted the world. One named Fritz was kind of in trouble and one named Walden… “Walden’s a girl and she’s hanging out with who?”

  Theo smiled. “Yeah, Walden’s a female painter. She hangs out with Physics and Astronomy. They are a couple of the sciences. The Sculptor created and granted the sciences the job of giving the work of the painters function through logical, predictable laws and processes. The sciences are the engineers of Earth while the painters were the designers. We gave it form, they give it function.”

  Theo jumped up again and helped me up. “We painters, well except for maybe Walden, have completed our work and have long been forgotten.”

  I looked at him trying to process what he had said. “But when I pointed you out to Ms. Jones, she saw you.”

  “Yes, I told you we’re not invisible. We’re unnoticeable. You noticed me and drew her attention to me. But like most humans, when they do notice for a second that there’s more to the world than what they understand, well it slides from their mind. Like other humans, she forgot me again.” He stared out, his eyes looked dreamy the way old people’s did when they talked about the good old days. “It’s lonely being around people who see all my work, enjoy it but have no idea I’m here or that I’m responsible for the tree they sit under to read or the kitten cuddled up next to them in bed.”

  “My ideas for the world and the way it is now are not the same.” He looked back at me. “I get used to and accept some changes, and then the sciences tweak some more.”

  Theo walked towards the open door. “I just heard the bell. Time for drama. We don’t want to be late for class.”

  Chapter 9

  My mind was fuzzy and my movements robotic as we descended the ladder to the stage. Part of me kept expecting to sit up in bed and realize this was all a dream.

  I walked down the steps and sat in my normal seat. Theo sat beside me, just watching me. I looked over at him, wondering what my feelings were. He wasn’t the cute boy noticing me anymore. He was something other.

  A tap on my shoulder from behind pulled me out of my contemplation. I turned to see Anthony.

  “Can you believe all the craziness?” Anthony’s dark brown eyes had doubled their normal size.

  I looked at him for a half-second, my eyes wide now too. How did he find out? “What craziness?”

  “You know, all the water fountains taped off and water coolers parked beside them. And the portable sinks and hand sanitizer in the bathrooms. The only water they’re letting the school use from the well is to flush the toilets until they find out who or what has been in it. Breakfast was frozen biscuits and for lunch Pizza’s being delivered.”

  Wayne’s discovery in the well—right. “I haven’t been in the bathrooms today so I didn’t know about that.”

  “Turns out, the kind of well we have has been illegal for public use for years. The school board is trying to figure out who let that slip. There’s an emergency meeting tomorrow afternoon. The trustees are trying to get it under control before we end up with a scandal that lands us in the news.”

  Was he for real or was he repeating some crazy rumors he’d heard?

  “Anthony, how do you know all this?”

  “My mom’s on the school board.”

  Could my world get any crazier right now?

  Ms. Jones never showed up to class. The emo drama kids said she got spooked about the possibility of terrorists tampering with the well and turned around and left as soon as she got to school and heard about it. I stood up in the middle of the chatter. I looked around for my book bag and remembered I’d left it by the side door I had entered. I went to retrieve it, but when I turned around Theo was there.

  His gray-blue eyes narrowed. “Where are you going?”

  I looked away and down, not willing to look at him. “To call my mom. I’m not feeling well.”

  “Oh... Hope you get to feeling better.”

  He stood there. I finally looked at him. His eyes were dull.

  “It’s just a lot…all that you tol
d me.” I pointed up to the catwalk. “Up there.”

  His expression was blank. “You’re the one who came looking. You’re the one who wanted to know what I was. I was fine with you thinking I was human.”

  I let out a sigh. “I know.”

  We stood there in silence forever, or so it seemed to me.

  Theo ended the silence. “Can I ask one favor?”

  “Sure.”

  “Can I come with you to the meeting?”

  I felt my forehead scrunch up. “What meeting?”

  “The school board meeting Anthony mentioned.”

  “Why would I go to that?”

  Theo’s eyes narrowed. “Someone is tampering with the well. I’ve got a couple of friends coming in this afternoon to help me investigate.”

  “Friends? Who’s coming?” I was the only human who noticed him.

  “Bio and Geo.”

  He seemed to read the confusion on my face. “Biology and Geology. They’re two sciences I worked closely with as they gave my work function. We still get together to play cards. Anyway, they’re coming to help me figure out the secret going on in the well.”

  “But why do you care about the well? It’s probably some mole or groundhog or whatever. I seriously doubt it’s terrorist like crazy Ms. Jones is scared of. Who would contaminate a well in Chesnee? I mean come on.”

  “I’m pretty sure it’s not contaminated, but the opposite.”

  “The opposite?”

  The bell rang just in time for my stomach to growl. Theo pointed at me. “You need nourishment.”

  The way he put it made me smile. “I guess my coffee and toast is gone. Why don’t you come to the cafeteria with me? You can ask Wayne what he’s heard from Clemson and Anthony what his mom knows.”

  A huge grin spread across his face. “OK, I will. But you’ll have to introduce me, or they won’t notice I’m there, and I’m not allowed to do it myself.”

  The question hit me for the first time. “Why do I notice you?”

  Theo looked at me the way he had since our first conversation; the inquisitive way that made his brows dip. “I don’t know.”

  Then he smiled. Oh, those dimples. “But I’m really glad you do.”

  In the lunchroom, Theo followed me through the line, grabbing a little of everything— pizza, apple, leftover biscuit from the breakfast, a packet of jelly. Then we joined Anthony and Wayne at a table.

  I reintroduced everyone. Wayne gave Theo that same look from the day in the basement. His quick affection for me but quicker distaste for Theo puzzled me a bit.

  My hunger kept me occupied at first. I was biting into my pizza when I noticed Theo spreading jelly all over his and then taking giant bites of it. That was just before he salted and peppered his chocolate pudding and shoveled it in.

  Wayne and Anthony were staring, mouths agape. I leaned closer to Theo and whispered, “Do you always eat like that?”

  “I grazed with some zebras once, just to try it. This is my first time with human food. How am I doing?” It was then he noticed my friends watching him. “Am I doing something wrong?”

  I smiled at the guys before turning back to whisper to him. “Your flavor combinations are just a bit odd. How does it taste to you?”

  He shook his head. “Oh, I can’t taste any of it.” He stuck his tongue out and pointed. “No taste buds.”

  “You can’t taste?”

  “No. I might look human to you, but I’m not. I’m a painter. Painters were made to paint whereas people were made to live…learn…eat…grow…dream.” His expression was distant. “You’re multipurpose beings where as I’m niche. Did you know I can’t even sketch or sculpt or papier-mâché? All I can do is paint.”

  He looked right at me. “As long as a person is alive and able to think, that person can become more today than he was yesterday.” He shrugged. “Too often people choose to be less, but they can choose to be more. Whereas, I will always be a painter with nothing left to paint.”

  This wasn’t the upbeat grinning Theo I was used to. “You paint the fish camp.”

  His eyes were still distant. “I paint things that were and flat lifeless copies of real things. But never again will I paint something that will be.” Theo pushed his tray away and sat silently until the rest of us finished eating.

  We found out the school board meeting would be at the district office at one o’clock the next day. Wayne didn’t seem happy to answer Theo’s questions but did anyway. Clemson still had no idea what the unknown substance was and were coming to get another sample, not trusting a high school student to do it this time.

  When the bell rang to tell us lunch was over Theo said he had to get back to his place to meet Geo and Bio.

  “You know, I’m not officially here today. I never checked in at the office. Can I come with you?”

  Theo beamed. “Absolutely. I can’t wait to introduce you to Geo.”

  Chapter 10

  When we got to Theo’s home, it was no longer white, but a cozy den with bookshelves, and a card table set up in the center of the room. Khai-Ree was painting a house plant in the corner of the room.

  “I thought you said Khai-Ree couldn’t paint on his own.”

  Theo started to answer, but Khai-Ree walked over to us, paint brush in hand. “I cannot conceive an idea and paint it.” He shook his head in disgust. “Why anyone would want to ruin a perfectly clean canvas is beyond me. But I can copy the work of my painter. I am a Khai-Ree. I follow my painter’s orders to the letter.” Then the bald, red man walked to another part of Theo’s home.

  Theo closed his eyes and shook his head. “Sorry about him. He has…what is it people say…Oh, yes. He’s got chronic PMS.”

  I stifled a giggle.

  “Let me show you how Khai-Ree painted this room”

  Theo walked us through the painted doorway and into a room with giant file cabinets lining the walls. He pulled one open and lifted up a painting of the room we’d just been in. “This is what he painted. I painted this long ago to give the guys and me a nice place to play cards. It would be too dull to keep my home like that all the time, so I paint over it, and Khai-Ree paints it back when I need it again.”

  I noticed the file cabinets on the other wall had a symbol on them, sort of a crest or seal that the others did not have. “What’s in those files?” I wandered over to them, but Theo stopped me.

  “Those are the files of my blessed work.”

  “Blessed?”

  “The ones made real at the beginning. When Walden, Fritz and I were painting our ideas for the world, we didn’t paint directly on the Sculptor’s work. We painted canvases and our Khai-Ree would take them and lay them at the Sculptor’s feet. If he was pleased, he would stamp that symbol you see on the cabinets on it and it would be made so.”

  “Can I see some of them?” I moved again towards the other cabinets, and again he stepped between them and me.

  “I never look at any of that anymore.”

  “Why not?”

  That distant look was in his eyes again. “It’s hard to live past your usefulness. It’s easier not to dwell on my glory days, so please don’t ask me to.”

  I let it go, but Theo did pull out his paints and painted a gold settee over to the side of the card table for me to sit on while they played. Just as I sat on it to try it out, a loud voice boomed from the door. “What’s going on man?”

  “Geo!” Theo met him at the door with a hug and a pat on Geo’s black leather clad back.

  I sat there with my mouth wide open. I’m not sure what I had expected a science to look like. Something like Wayne or Mr. Winters—kind of geeky. Not black leather pants and matching jacket with a faux-hawk. Theo pointed to me and introduced me. I stood and closed my mouth.

  Geo’s dark eyes darted between me and Theo. “What’s a human doing up here?”

  “She noticed me and followed me up here today.”

  Geo’s head tilted. “You know that’s against the rules.”
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  Khai-Ree busted into the room and pulled a seat out for Geo. “No. He didn’t do anything to make her notice him, so now he gets to tell her all the secrets kept back from humans. He found what humans call… a loophole.” He bowed to us before the little man rushed out as quickly as he had rushed in.

  Geo sat in his spot and burst into laughter. “You’re still painting your Khai-Ree? Man, when are you going to let it go? So he lost a painting, big deal.”

  “My greatest masterpiece since…well, the beginning”

  Khai-Ree reentered with the wadded Coke cup Wayne used to collect a water sample for Theo in. “Hardly you’re greatest masterpiece. I don’t even remember it, so it couldn’t have been that great.” He then placed the cup on the table in front of Geo.

  Geo picked it up and examined it. “What’s this?”

  Theo took a seat at the table next to him. “The reason I’ve been hanging out at this school for so long. There’s something different about the water from this well. See what you think?”

  Geo took a sip of the water and sloshed it about in his mouth. Then he spit it on his finger and rubbed it between them and his thumb close to his eyes. Finally, he sniffed the cup that held the remaining sample.

  “There’s something in this water. It tastes like a mineral, but none I made. It’s not chemical. That would have that nasty human made aftertaste.” He looked over at me. “No offense.” Then back at Theo. “You might want Bio to check it too—just to make sure it’s not biological, but I don’t think it’s bacteria or waste from anything living.”

  He took one more sip. “You know…it kind of tastes heavenly.”

  Theo jumped up from the table. “I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!”

  I looked between the two of them utterly lost. “Knew what?”

  “It’s Mia-Dae. I’ll bet anything it is.”

  Geo’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the cup again. “Mia-Dae? What makes you think that?”

  “The way the students here change after they drink it. I noticed it years ago. Suddenly a boy or girl knows exactly who and what they need to fulfill their purpose.”