Entry #48

Movies on the Wall
by L.I. Brarian


The photograph faded after many years of hanging in just the wrong spot in Grandma’s living room, but when Barbie gripped the frame to lift it from the hook, the trees reclaimed their definition and the sunbeam broke through the leafy canopy as brightly as it had the day the photo was captured. “This is wrong”, Barbie sighed, “it belongs here”. Her eyes drifted around the room, outlines of old furniture newly removed scarring the floor, vestiges of Grandma slowly being swept out the front door.

The television had rarely been watched in this bungalow. Grandma watched Mass and the news, but not much else. Chores came first, done early, and the rest of the day was hers to bake, visit, or play cards with friends. “Keep your brain and body busy, it is good for you”, she would say, usually just before finding a task to help a lounging grandchild experience the wisdom of her mantra. But she always gave herself time to get lost in this picture, a birthday gift given years ago to brighten her warm but Spartan home. “The trees tell stories if you let them”, she would say. If you were lucky, Grandma would tell you the story she saw growing from the picture, always something different, no two stories the same.

Barbie lifted the photo from the hook, blew the dust from the frame and smiled. TV is overrated, she thought. Time to start writing. The trees tell stories if you let them.