@@@@@A little girl in a tennis dress stood at
@@@@@A little girl in
a tennis dress stood at the center of the picture
Her back was turned, but her red hair was a dead
giveaway: she was Reba, my little love, that
girlfriend from my other lifeThe figure was
poorly executed, but you somehow knew that was on
purpose, that she wasn't a real little girl at all,
only a dream figure in a dream landscape
All around her feet, lying in the sand, were
bright green tennis balls
169
Others floated shoreward on the mild waves
"When did you do it?" Ilse was still smiling -
almost laughing"And what the heck does it mean?"
"Do you like it?" I askedBecause I didn't like
itThe tennis balls were the wrong color because
I hadn't had the right shade of green, but that
wasn't why; I hated it because it felt all wrong
It felt like heartbreak
"I love it!" she said, and then did laugh"C'mon,
when did you do it? Give
"While you were sleepingI went to lie down, but
I felt queasy again, so I thought I better stay
vertical for awhileI decided to draw a little,
see if things would settleI didn't realize I had
that thing in my hand until I got up here I
pointed to Reba, sitting propped against the
window with her stuffed legs sticking out
"That's the doll you're supposed to yell at when
you forget things, right?"
"Something like thatAnyway, I drew the picture
It took maybe an hourBy the time I was finished,
I felt better Although I remembered very little
about making the drawing, I remembered enough to
170
know this story was a lie"Then I lay down and
took a nap
"Can I have it?"
I felt a surge of dismay, but couldn't think of a
way to say no that wouldn't hurt her feelings or
sound crazy"If you really want i