“Well, is he that much of a jackass that he’d make his daughter quit working with me because of Jesse?”

“That and more,” Pauline said.

“I haven’t heard a peep out of her father, so I think everything is all right,” Anna said. “Of course Theresa only walked out on me Friday, so who knows, but I’m not worried about it.”

Pauline didn’t respond for a moment. From the corner of Anna’s eye, she saw her staring straight ahead through the window, blue eyes catching the sunlight. Finally, she took in a breath and turned to Anna. “I guess you have to ask yourself if having this Jesse helping you is going to create more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Of the three of them he’s by far the most talented,” Anna said. “And he’s passionate about art. He really needs more exposure to it, though. He needs the chance to visit museums. To get to study other artists. I wish I had my art books here to share with him.” She heard the rise in her voice. The enthusiasm. And she felt Pauline’s eyes on her.

“Are you … Do you have inappropriate feelings for this boy?” Pauline asked, ever so delicately. “You sound rather smitten with him.”

Anna laughed. “No!” she reassured her. “Not at all. Not the way you mean, anyhow. What I do have is a fear that his talent will go to waste. That he’ll end up working on his family’s farm instead of doing what he’s meant to be doing.”

“You can’t save him, you know,” Pauline said. “We’re all born with limitations of one sort or another. A family that needs us or a bum leg or the wrong skin color. We just have to make do.”

Anna didn’t answer. She didn’t want to save him. She just wanted him to have the same chance as everyone else.

“What about the other boy?” Pauline asked. “The white boy?”

“Very nice young man,” Anna said. “He could be an architect, his sketches are so technically perfect. He wants to be an artist, but his drawings have no passion in them.”

“Like Jesse’s,” Pauline said.

Anna nodded. “Like Jesse’s.”

They found the shop without too much trouble and they were both astonished by the enormous roll of canvas. Fortunately Karl had thought to give them a good length of rope before they left his and Paula’s house, so with the help of the salesman in the shop, they were able to tie the roll securely to the roof of Anna’s Ford. She picked up the paints she’d ordered as well as some brushes and charcoal and other supplies. She felt that thrill of excitement she always got when she had new tools in her possession. On a whim, she also bought two stretched canvases as gifts for Peter and Jesse.