It's a Green Thing (4 page)

As it turned out, Matt Stephens only lasted two days on the mural. Brooke said this was because he got a real job, but I have to wonder if he wasn't just getting sick of Brooke and Amanda. Or maybe he got sick of all of us since there's been a lot of arguing going on. Anyway, he was a hard worker, and he'll be missed. Still, I'm glad that Dominic and Eddie seem to be sticking with it.

Marissa has been giving me rides downtown this week. And while her car is a bit of a junkyard (she uses the backseat as a trash receptacle), it does beat riding the bus. Plus it's more fuel efficient for her to share a ride than to drive alone. Of course, she only laughed when I told her this.

“You really are a green girl, aren't you?”

“I take conservation and the earth seriously,” I said. “Don't you?”

“I guess I don't really think about it much.”

“Maybe you should.”

She nodded, like she was considering this. “But it's weird because I don't usually think of Christians as very environmentally conscious.”

“Why not?”

“Well, take people like Brooke and Amanda…”

I sighed. “Don't remind me.”

“They don't seem to care about the environment. In fact, they don't seem to care about much of anything besides being right and telling everyone else how to live and what to think. Kind of like the religious mind police.”

“But you don't think all Christians are like that, do you? I mean like the religious mind police?”

“Well, I don't think you are. Neither is Chloe. Or Allie either. I used to think Laura had a superiority complex, but after being in the band, she changed.”

“I don't know Allie and Laura that well,” I admitted as I tried to remember my first impressions of Chloe's band members. I wasn't a Christian when I first met them, but Allie had struck me as laid-back and friendly, and Laura seemed quiet and thoughtful. Neither had come across as judgmental. “But they seem okay to me.” Mostly I wanted to remind Marissa that not all Christians are like Brooke and Amanda.

“And your cousin, Kim, is okay. But Natalie…well, she's a piece of work.”

“Maybe Christians are just like everyone else,” I mused. “Some are cool, and some are—”

“Jerks?”

“I was going to say not so cool. Maybe we're all kind of like the mural.”

“How's that?” asked Marissa.

“Works in progress. But maybe some of us are a little further along than others.”

“I guess.”

Still, even as I said this, I wasn't so sure. In fact, the longer I'm a Christian, which admittedly hasn't been long at all, the more unsure I feel about a lot of things. But I can't deny that I still have that peace. I've been taking time to pray (Caitlin said that's my lifeline), and I've been reading the Bible as well as a book that's supposed to help explain some things. I'll meet with Caitlin again on Saturday morning. I might bring a list of questions with me.

“How's your dad doing?” Marissa asked straight out of the blue. She and I were adjusting the ladders and the board that serves as a scaffold between them.

“Huh?” I peered curiously at her, almost wishing I'd never confided in her in the first place. Thankfully, I'd never mentioned that my mom was in prison, but I did let a few other things slip, including the short touring stint I'd done with Dad last winter. Maybe I just needed someone to talk to, someone I thought I
could trust. But when she found out about my dad's music career and how I liked to keep it low-key, she'd been cool with it.

“He's okay,” I murmured, glancing down to see if anyone was listening to us. But the other four seemed preoccupied with painting.

“Well, I looked up his Web site last night.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I was trying to make some points with
my
dad.”

“How's that?”

“Well, you know, this whole summer is going to be such a drag. So anyway, my dad's a Nick Stark fan, and I told him he was your dad and—”

“Your dad is Nick Stark?” Eddie said suddenly.

I tossed Marissa a warning look, but she just shrugged. “What's the big deal, Maya?”

“Who's Nick Stark?” Brooke said.

“He's a rock star,” Eddie told her. Then he looked at me. “Seriously, is Nick Stark really your dad?”

“He's more like a
pop
star,” I said. “And kind of a has-been at that.” It's not that I'm not proud of Dad. I guess I sort of am. But having grown up in Beverly Hills, I learned early on not to make a big deal of my dad's music career. There was always someone with a parent far more famous and a lot richer than mine. I learned to keep a low profile.

“Rock star, pop star, whatever,” Eddie said eagerly. “Is he really your dad, Maya?”

I nodded, then returned my attention to adjusting the scaffold.

“Wow, that is so cool,” Eddie said. “My parents are huge fans.”

“So is my dad,” Marissa said. “And now my dad wants to meet you, Maya.”

“Oh…” I nodded as I climbed down the ladder.

“So how famous is he?” asked Brooke.

“How do you measure famous?” I opened a can of number eleven, electric blue paint.

“You know,” Brooke persisted. “Is he like a-household-word famous?”

“Sounds like he's not one in your house.”

Brooke laughed. “That's because my parents only listen to Christian music.”

“That's too bad,” said Marissa.

“I've heard of Nick Stark,” Dominic said. “But I don't think I've heard his music.”

“It's kind of the typical seventies-eighties stuff,” I told them.

“So where does he live?” asked Brooke. “And why aren't you with him?”

“Right now I'm staying with my uncle and cousin for a while. And my dad lives, well, on the road.”

“On the road?” Brooke frowned. “Is he homeless?”

Marissa threw back her head and laughed loudly. “Yeah, right. What you don't know could fill a library, Brooke.”

“You don't have to be mean.”

“He's touring,” I told her. “Doing concerts. At the moment he's in Europe—Sweden, I think.”

“And Maya could be with him,” added Marissa.

“Wow,” Dominic said. “Why aren't you?”

I considered this. So many possible answers.

“Yeah, why aren't you?” pestered Brooke.

“Because I'm not. I toured with him for a while, and it got old pretty quick. I just want a normal life. And to be honest, I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't talk about my dad. Okay?”

Of course Brooke and Amanda kept pounding me with questions, all of which seemed money related. It was obvious that material wealth was important to them, but I was evasive. Finally Dominic managed to get them to stop.

“Give Maya a break,” he said. “She's here to paint—not to give you guys her family history!”

“Yeah,” Eddie agreed. “Just because her dad's famous doesn't mean she's public property. You two are acting just like the paparazzi.”

I had to chuckle at that. But at least it shut them up.

D
o you know what today is?” Marissa asked everyone as we were getting ready to start painting again this morning.

“Friday?” I ventured. I'd been hoping we could finish the mural today.

“Friday the thirteenth,”
she said in a spooky voice, like maybe she thought she could unnerve Brooke and Amanda or frighten them away, which would actually be unfortunate since without their help there's no way we'd finish today.

“So?” Brooke looked blankly at Marissa. “Christians aren't superstitious.”

“Really?” Marissa looked skeptical. “Then why do you wear that cross around your neck? That's not superstition?”

“No. The cross is a symbol of faith.” Brooke fingered her golden cross.

“That's right,” Amanda said. “You're the one who's superstitious, Marissa.”

“Well, be careful walking under these ladders,” warned Marissa. “Could be bad luck.”

“There's no such thing as bad luck,” Amanda pointed out.

“What about bad karma?” Marissa said.

“None of that applies to a Christian,” Brooke said in a slightly superior tone. “Bad luck or karma or any of those superstitious things.”

“Meaning bad things don't happen to Christians?” Okay, I hadn't meant to get involved, but I just couldn't help myself.

Dominic laughed. “Hey, ladies. Why don't you all give the religious war a break today?”

“We're not at war,” Brooke said defensively. “We're just trying to enlighten some people.”

“You're right, Dominic,” I said quickly. “Let's declare the rainbow mural as a peace zone for the entire day.”

“I'm in.” Marissa nodded as she opened a can of fuchsia paint.

“You got my vote,” added Eddie.

“And if we give this wall everything we've got,” I said, “we might even finish today.” I looked up at the mural and tried to imagine it finished. At that moment it looked like a giant jigsaw puzzle with lots and lots of missing pieces. But if we all did our parts, there was a chance we'd finish. So just as I'd done on the previous mornings, I began assigning painting positions. It kept us from stepping on each other or getting in the way.

“Why do Amanda and I always get stuck on the ground level?” demanded Brooke.

“Stuck on the ground?”

“Yeah. You and Marissa always hog the ladders and the scaffolding,” Amanda said.

“We've been up there too,” Dominic said.

“Maybe it's our turn to work on top,” Brooke said.

“Fine,” I told her. “I don't mind working down here.”

“Me either.” Marissa shrugged. “I think it's cooler down here anyway.”

“Just be careful,” I warned them. “Don't lose your balance.”

Amanda laughed. “You probably didn't know that Brooke and I are on the gymnastics team. I can't imagine that either of us would lose our balance.”

“Well, just don't try any backflips up there,” Eddie teased.

It was actually rather pleasant working on the ground level. And even better working in a peace zone. By noon I wondered why we hadn't thought of this armistice sooner. Also, the mural was starting to look pretty good.

“I'll bet we can finish it by the end of the day,” I said as we reconvened after lunch. Then, feeling unexpectedly generous, I offered to take everyone out for pizza after the mural was completed.

“Sounds like a plan,” Eddie said as he took a bucket of peacock blue up the ladder.

“And I remembered what the rainbow is a symbol of,” added Dominic.

“What's that?”

“It's a symbol of hope and promise.”

“That's cool,” I said. “Maybe the kids will feel hopeful when they see it.”

We continued to work quietly through the warm, muggy afternoon, listening to the music coming from the iPod Dominic had hooked up to a speaker. And although it was unfamiliar to me since it seemed to be Christian, it was actually pretty cool. Marissa and I were just finishing up a large section when we heard a scream from above. We looked over in time to see that Amanda had stepped from the scaffolding onto the ladder without considering that Brooke, on the opposite end of the board, had been caught off balance. By the time we got to her, she was flat on her back on the pavement, covered from head to toe in lime green paint. Her eyes were closed, and she wasn't moving.

“Are you okay?” I cried out. “Someone call 911.”

She opened her eyes, wiped the paint from her face, and looked up with a stunned expression. “What happened?”

“Are you okay?” I asked again.

“I'm not sure.” Brooke tried to sit up, but Marissa stopped her.

“Don't move. You might have broken something.”

“That's right,” Dominic said. “Stay still.” He was off his ladder and at her side now. And Eddie, still up high, was on his cell phone.

“Oh, Brooke,” Amanda cried as she came over to join us, “I'm so sorry.”

“What happened?” Brooke said again.

“Friday the thirteenth,” Marissa said in a serious tone.

Okay, in light of the near tragedy, that comment wasn't too funny. But we soon discovered that Brooke seemed to be fine. Even before the ambulance arrived, and despite our warnings, she was up and walking about and acting like it was no big deal. And even though she looked a little odd in her green coat of paint, the paramedics proclaimed her fit enough not to need a transport to the ER, but they did make her promise to call her doctor for a follow-up consultation. Thirty minutes later her mom showed to pick up both Brooke and Amanda.

“What about pizza?” Brooke called as she paused by her mom's car.

“What?” I'd totally forgotten about my promise.