Deep in the Heart of Me by Diane Munier

still, and I've made no attempt to wash it. But I want to keep it. That's all. And I will buy her another. I hope to.
    If she ignores my note, well I'll never mention it or bother her again. Come Monday I already know I'll show not one care. I won't make a fool of myself more than I already have.
    I am thinking like this as I jump the last few rungs from the ladder, holding my smaller pail that is empty of paint.
    And there she is, just like that. She scares me actually, but I don't jump. I just stare.
    She is dressed in britches. Her legs are…there. She is cute and beautiful. Her hair is braided, and she wears a jacket, old and threadbare like one of the migrant's. It is so large, sleeves rolled up, it must be her father's.
    She is holding a brush. She lifts this and waves it at me. "Good morning Tonio.
    "Tonio?" she says because I lose words I'm that surprised.
    "I'm going to paint," she says.
    "I ah…I didn't mean…."
    "I didn't bring a pail."
    "I have another," I say, not meaning I want her to do this. But I do.
    We go to the big bucket, and I get the pail meant for Tillo, but since he never came around and asked for it, it's Sobe's now, though I doubt she can paint as much as he might if he puts himself into it.
    I carefully pour paint from the big bucket into the smaller one. I don't give her too much, and she says, "More than that." So I increase it, but still not as much as I'd give myself or the others.
    "You'll get paint in your hair," I say. I go to the rail where I've laid my jacket and get my hat out of my pocket. I don't want paint on this hat, but it's old, and the knights in the stories laid their cloaks in mud. So I bring her my hat, but I sniff it along the way because I've never thought about it smelling or something. But it is fine.
    "Here," I say.
    She takes the hat and grins at me and puts it on her head. It's only a little big, well it goes over the tops of her ears, and it only makes her more…whatever she is, which is…appealing.
    "Thank you Tonio," she says.
    Well, we're not getting anything done this way. So I carry her pail near where I work. "You can do low, and I'll do high," I say.
    She laughs a little. I want to ask what's so funny, but I ignore it and just wonder. Is she laughing at me? I don't know.

Chapter 19
     
    "Your face looks better," she says, looking up at me. "Whoops, I just painted a spider. Forever more he's immortalized in the whitewash."
    I have been looking down at her too much. My neck is starting to throb but…immortalized in the whitewash? Girls.
    "You look like your mother you know," she says.
    There I go looking down at her again. Is that a good thing in her eyes?
    And she is laughing at me, all the time. It's just her way, I think, being happy.
    "You don't talk much," she says. She is not looking at me now, she's painting.
    I can talk a lot if I get going. When I'm in the mood. I just don't know what to say yet. I have questions. Like, where is her mother? Like where did she live before this? Does she like it here?
    Does she like me?
    She seems to.
    I clear my throat. "Do you like horses?"
    She starts to giggle. "I like your horse."
    She has said that already. I guess when you've got a fine new Ford to tool around in you don't have to give horses a thought.
    Now I don't know what else to say. It's like I have no imagination or something.
    "We're making good progress," she says.
    I haven't checked on the others. Tillo never did come looking for his bucket, but Joseph has told me he's working. I know he can work if he wants to. But he's a lazy cuss by nature.
    I slap the horse-hair at the last bits in my bucket and finish the eave. Then I climb down. "Time to eat," I say.
    "Oh. I didn't bring anything," she says standing. She has paint on her cheek and speckles on her nose.
    "You can share. I mean I can. We can." I turn from her and close my eyes. What am I saying?
    I go for Joseph's knapsack to see what he brought us. Apples of course, but there is only one. All the