Day 138
Adam
We visit a museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and I can’t help but grin at Eve’s fallen face as we walk through it.
“Fine. I’ll own it. This is lame.”
“Well, maybe not for someone as smart as you,” I try to cut her some slack. “Art and science never really spoke to me that much, but I can see why you’d appreciate it.”
“I used to. You know, before.” She looks up at an ancient painting, and hesitantly runs a hand over it.
Dust coats the pads of her fingers as she pulls it away.
In some areas of the exhibition, water damage is already apparent in the corners, the paint swelling and peeling on the once pristine floor.
“It all feels so pointless now, doesn’t it?” she speaks quietly.
“To an extent.” I let her look around a little longer. “But it had meaning at some point, didn’t it? I’m sure you know the stories behind some of them, too.”
“I did take one art class, years ago.” She fixates at another painting down the line, and I don’t manage to get a good look at it before she’s suddenly tugging at my arm. “We should get out of here.”
“Why?” I ask and try to observe the half green canvas, but she’s pulling me in the other direction.
“Expulsion from the Garden of Eden, Thomas Cole,” she lets out as she quickens her steps, dragging me along with her. My eyes move from the painting to her face. It’s blanched like she’s seen a ghost.
“Most of the paintings here are bible related,” I try to calm her down, but I don’t put up a fight as she beelines to the exit. “It’s probably just a coincidence.”
“Yeah, I’d believe that”—her voice is choked—“if I hadn’t already seen it on a school trip last semester. This painting is displayed in Boston, Massachusetts, not Arizona.”