Left at the Alter

After weeks of Anna bouncing in and out of the studio, helping when she could, she finally decided to join the team. She finished the project that she was working on and accepted the position to manage mine. Up until she finished her prior project, Marla and I split the tasks but really needed the extra time to devote to the art itself. The original method of connecting the butterflies to the young girl in hopes of making it appear that they were flying around her head did not work and we had to brainstorm and run trials to ensure that we could make it happen in a safe way. This was partially when it was decided that we would construct butterflies on the spines of the books. 

Jeremy and his crew were just as good as  Anna raved. Jeremy had begun to spend so much time around that soon they would have to name him a main contributor to the piece. They got my sculpture shed, as I had affectionately named it, up in less than a week and had it looking beautiful. His team also assisted in moving all the supplies that we would need and adding cement blocks to the bottom of the sculpture that will serve as the foundation keeping it securely in the ground when installed. 

Anna failed to prep us with how hilarious Jeremy could be. He seemed to flirt on a small scale as a joke but when we were alone, I could not believe that he was in any way joking. The way he would lock eyes with me when he spoke to the way he would smile at me when he said crazy shit had me convinced the only reason he was ‘just playing’ is because I wasn’t a willing participant.  

“Hey,” I announced myself to a couple members of Jeremy’s crew while he was walking around chatting with everyone. I was holding a picture of lemonade and a spread of fruit that I wanted to set up in the shed. I was a bit disappointed when he never even looked my way. I knew that I should not enjoy it so I always acted like I did not but to say that I was sure that he could see through that bull shit was an understatement. The excitement that I felt when he and Eli were in the same room was almost too unbearable. My body could almost not contain all the excitement and though I had a love/hate relationship with how this was making me feel, I couldn’t wait for it to be all over and then I would only see Jeremy on rare occasions. 

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We finished. 

I looked at Marla and she looked at me. The tears came from nowhere but pooled in our eyes like they were invited to be here. Laying in two pieces in front of us was the huge project that had consumed so much of the last couple months . She still needed a sealant sprayed on her and a cold wax treatment to help her shine.

Since Jeremy had been coming around, I spoke to him regarding upkeep and he and his team signed up for paid training so that they could give my sculpture yearly cold wax treatments. This also allowed them to be able to offer this as a service to other sculptors. They helped with the initial one and then we got all of the pieces ready to go.  

The night before the unveiling Jeremy’s team picked up the sculpture for installation. I had a group of online supporters who had been watching our journey. I went to get footage of them loading the sculpture and strapping it to the flatbed truck. Marla and I watched as they loaded all of the pieces and Jeremy assisted and directed. Once it was loaded everyone took off except for me. I needed to watch them secure it. I needed to know she was going to be safe.  I watched them reverse out of the long drive and I just stood there unsure of what to do next looking at all of the empty paint containers and other items we had used to create this magical masterpiece. 

“Are you ok?” Jeremy seemed genuinely concerned. 

“I am.” I turned to look at him. “I need a friend moment.”

“Ok.” He said though he sounded a little uneasy. 

“I just know that after tonight everything Is going to change isn’t it? I mean this was the plan, creep into Americas heart but it’s so close I can touch it and I feel as though I may die from the excitement.” 

Jeremy nodded with a serious face on as if he was agreeing but afraid to say anything. He looked at the ground for a moment before walking over to me. He stood directly in front of me and allowed those chocolate drop eyes to stare into mine for an uncomfortable amount of time before continuing.