It’s time to show my work.
The mall is silent, except for Thelma the macaw, who is practicing a new phrase: “Uh-oh!”
Julia is finishing her homework. George is sweeping outside. Mack has gone home for the night.
I grab Not-Tag and carefully pull out the folded papers. So many paintings! Page after page. Piece after piece of my giant puzzle.
I pound on my glass, and Julia glances over.
Fingers trembling, I hold up one of my paintings. It’s brown and green, a corner piece.
Julia smiles.
I display another picture, and then another and another and another, each one a tiny part of the whole.
Julia looks confused. “But … what is it?” she asks. She shrugs. “It doesn’t matter. It’s pretty just as it is.”
“Uh-oh,” says Thelma.
No, I think. No.
It does matter.