Art for Art's Sake: Meredith's Story by Barbara L. Clanton

don’t.” Dani just smiled and said, “Well, I’m going to be your friend anyway. I can handle it. Meredith, I gotta tell you, it was killing me not talking to you during art.” “Yeah, me, too. I’m sorry. I really do want to help you understand art. On Monday, I promise we’ll start over, okay?
    I’ll be the best art tutor you’ve ever had.”
    “Deal.” Dani looked at her watch. “I think we’d better get inside because I’m starting to freeze out here. Somebody cried all over my jacket.”
    Meredith feigned a hurt look, and then she said, “Mrs. Randall, whoever she is, is probably waiting for us.”
    They signed in at the front reception desk with a tall African-American attendant named Rudy who pointed them toward the convalescence wing. They passed a couple of other Whickett students in the hallway. Dani nodded to them, but Meredith ignored them completely.
    They walked the maze to, according to Rudy, the somewhat-tricky-to-find wing. Dani said, “Meredith? Did you see just now, when Mark and Kevin passed us?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Did you see how I looked them in the eye and nodded to them?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I want you to do that next time we pass somebody. Don’t hide. Keep your head up. It shows people that you’ve seen them. It just, I don’t know, shows them that you’re equal. Maybe that doesn’t make sense, but we’ve got to find a way to make you lose that invisibility cloak you’ve had on for the past year and a half.”
    “I don’t know if I can.”
    Dani looked at her softly. “You’ll just do what you can, okay? You can’t beat shyness overnight, right?”
    “I guess.”
    They reached an intersection in the hallways and Dani pointed left. “How about this? When we get to Mrs. Randall’s room, you introduce yourself first. Okay? I did all the talking to Rudy back there, so now it’s your turn.”
    “All right. But wait.” Meredith pulled her hair into a bundle and held her wrist out to Dani. Dani smiled because she knew what to do this time. She pulled the rubber band off and handed it to Meredith.
    “Thank you.” Meredith finished tying back her hair and took a deep breath. “Ready?”
    “Let’s go.”
    They rounded another corner and found a microscopic sign indicating the Rose M. Rothschild Memorial Convalescence wing.
    “This is it,” Dani said. “Okay, look for room 129.”
    “Here.” Meredith pointed to the room coming up on their left. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, but she sensed that having Dani in her life was going to mean big changes. Dani wanted her to take charge? Fine, she had three seconds to figure out how to do that.
    Meredith knocked lightly on the propped-open door of room 129 and saw three people in the room. The woman in the bed had snow white hair and looked to be in her seventies. This was, presumably, Mrs. Randall. A cute guy with rust-colored hair sat on the edge of the bed. He wore a dark blue suit, crisp white shirt, and a striped blue tie. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. Another woman, who also looked to be in her seventies, sat in an overstuffed armchair on the other side of the bed. This woman had silver hair and wore a long-sleeved red flannel shirt with dark blue jeans.
    The woman in the bed looked up and said, “Oh, hello girls. Are you from the high school?” When they nodded, the woman said, “Come in. Come in. What are your names?”
    Meredith went in the room first. She kept her head up and nodded to the rusty-haired man and then to the woman seated in the armchair. She held out her hand to the woman in the bed and said, “I’m Meredith Bedford, and this is my friend, Dani Lassiter.” Friend. She liked the sound of it. Meredith shook the invalid woman’s hand gently and stepped aside so Dani could reach in.
    The woman in the bed had the whitest hair Meredith had ever seen, like the color of fresh snow. Her complexion was pale, but the sparkle in her eye made Meredith smile.
    “Girls, this is so nice of