I Think We Missed Our Turn - L.A. Witt Page 0,25

tucked the paperwork into his bag, and then the three of us carefully moved everything into the garage. Then I backed the Trailblazer as close as I could to the open door. After we’d lowered the seats, we hefted each box one by one into the truck. It took a little Tetris action to make everything fit, but in the end, they went together perfectly. There was almost no room for anything to slide or jostle, and they were packed securely anyway. We put our bags on top (Zoe didn’t mind) and closed the doors.

As she dusted off her hands, Zoe turned a pointed look on me. “Does your dad have a cart for bringing these in from the truck? I don’t want you carrying these, you hear me?”

“Don’t worry.” I showed my palms. “Dad’s got carts and a pallet jack, and there’s plenty of people to help us.”

“Okay.” She nodded sharply. “I don’t want anyone hurting their backs. Even young men like you can hurt yourselves.”

I blinked. I’d thought her concern was about us not being careful. That we might drop one of the pieces, even though we could probably toss one out of a plane at this point and the foam would protect it. But no, she’d been worried about us getting hurt.

“All right. Well.” Zoe glanced a the truck, then turned to us. “Now that we’re all done with that, would you boys like to see what I’m working on now?”

Marques’s eyes lit up. “Oh my God, yes. Please.”

She looked as excited as he did, and she took his hand and tugged him down the hall. He glanced at me, and I chuckled as I followed.

We really needed to hit the road and try to make it to Bangor or something before it got too late, but when was Marques going to have another chance to see Zoe’s studio? And when would I get to see it? I was an artist too, but Marques knew and studied and adored Zoe’s work, so this was like getting to hang out on set while a movie full of my favorite actors was being filmed. Or getting to watch some of the legendary digital artists work. Say no? Pfft. Not in this lifetime.

Zoe took us downstairs to what I assumed was a rec room that had been converted into an art studio, complete with ventilation and connections for her welding equipment. I supposed a climate-controlled workspace wasn’t really optional in a place like this, unless she didn’t want to get anything done in the dead of winter.

There were several pieces in progress, though they were still early enough in the process that I couldn’t put my finger on where she was going with them.

On a pedestal in the middle of the room beside a small welding setup was a large partly-done sculpture made of concrete and metal. There were several chunks of metal leaning against the pedestal, and a pair of welding gloves draped over them.

“This one is going to be a woman and child pointing at the sky.” She made a face. “I had to redo a couple of pieces, though.” Gesturing at some discarded metal against the far wall, she grumbled, “Had some hot cracking in the welds. Should’ve known better than to go that hot on that kind of metal. But I think the new pieces I put in place look a lot better anyway, so it worked out.”

Marques walked slowly around the pedestal, looking the sculpture up and down. “What does it mean?” He paused, then quickly added, “Everyone always debates so hard about what your sculptures mean, so I’m curious to hear it from you.”

“It’s very simple, sweetheart.” She nodded at the sculpture. “It means exactly the same thing all of my sculptures mean.”

Marques and I exchanged looks, then turned to her, eyebrows up.

She met us with a knowing smile. “It means whatever it says to the person who’s looking at it.” She paused, then shrugged. “I know some people call that a cop out, but I don’t agree. They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think the same goes for meaning. When people waste all their time and energy arguing about what my art means, they don’t realize that it means exactly what each side is arguing. It’s what you, the viewer, take away from it.” She gestured at the sculpture again. “It has meaning to me, but its purpose is to evoke feelings and make you discover what