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

you to visit. Rudy said some children from the high school might come by today.” She smoothed her covers and said, “This is my nephew. Well, I guess you’d call him my grandnephew, right Millie?” She consulted with the woman in the armchair who nodded. “This is my grandnephew, Gregory. My sister Bernice’s grandson.”
    Gregory nodded at them and stood up. “Aunt Esther, I’m going to head out. It’s a long drive back to Pearl River.” He leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “You take care of yourself, okay? I’ll be back up next weekend to see how you’re doing. And, uh, think about what we talked about.”
    “Okay, sweetie. Tell everyone I’m fine, and I’ll be up dancing a jig any time now.”
    Grandnephew Gregory turned and nodded curtly toward the woman in the armchair. The woman in the armchair barely nodded back. He seemed nice enough, but Meredith got the distinct feeling that the woman in the armchair didn’t like him. She made a mental note to ask Dani later what she thought of him.
    “Oh girls, I’m so sorry. I’m Esther Randall, and this is Millie Bradley.” She gestured to the woman in the armchair who bounded up out of the chair and shook hands vigorously with first Dani and then Meredith.
    “Girls, good to see you.” The woman named Millie seemed genuinely glad to see them. She turned to Esther and said, “Glad he’s gone.” She rolled her eyes.
    “Millie, c’mon. He’s family,” Esther scolded.
    “He’s your family. Not mine. And what’s with the suit? I don’t trust him for a second.”
    “Millie. We have company.”
    “Okay, okay. Sorry, girls. Carry on.” Millie sat back down in the armchair and opened a crossword puzzle book Meredith had not seen earlier. The woman looked back up abruptly and said, “Oh, girls, Rudy brought in a couple of folding chairs for you.”
    Dani grabbed the chairs in an instant. She opened one up and gestured for Meredith to sit first. She then opened up the other and set it down next to Meredith.
    Meredith took the lead. She had to. She had promised. She cleared her throat and said, “Thank you so much for seeing us today. We, uh, we’re doing a school project about the history of Whickett, and I—we—thought that you might be able to tell us something about the old Victorian house on Center Street.”
    Esther’s eyes lit up, and she exchanged a quick glance with Millie. Esther said, “The old painted lady . Right, Millie?”
    “Yup, that’s her all right.”
    Meredith was perplexed. “Painted lady?”
    Esther looked at Millie and said, “They’re too young, aren’t they, dearest?”
    “Yup.”
    Esther looked back at Meredith and said, “Sometimes Victorian houses were called painted ladies because of the pretty colors used to paint them.”
    “Rose,” Meredith said.
    Dani shot a questioning glance her way.
    “Oh, I noticed the color the other day when I took Mikey to taekwondo.” Meredith turned back to Esther. “That shade of rose, leaning toward pink, is just lovely.”
    “I do love it. The paint’s all chipping and peeling now. Isn’t it, Millie?”
    “Yup. Been a long time since I’ve been able to do any work on her.”
    Meredith looked at Millie. “Do you own the house?”
    Millie laughed a hearty laugh. Meredith suddenly got a crazy mental picture of Millie sitting in a rocking chair, smoking a pipe, and telling tall tales of days gone by. She shook the thought out of her head and wondered where such a warped idea of this sweet old woman came from.
    “Me? Own the house?” Millie leaned her head back and laughed again. “Not me.” She nodded her head toward Esther in the bed.
    Meredith turned toward Esther. “Mrs. Randall? Do you own the house?”
    Esther scowled. “No and yes. No to the Mrs., but yes to owning the house.”
    Meredith didn’t quite know how to interpret her response. Millie seemed to pick up on that and said, “My Esther here isn’t married. Well, not in the legal sense