With a pitch-black sky full of twinkling stars and a warm summer breeze caressing my skin, I stood in front of my fabulous pink-and-white Shasta trailer. I surveyed the scene as my family helped me prepare for the upcoming festival. Tomorrow was the start of the four-day annual Summer Arts and Craft Fair in my hometown of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Selling my art was my full-time job now, so I had to make the next few days a success.
The event was being held at the county fairgrounds. Nestled in the middle of a wooded area was an open space that was the perfect location for all kinds of events held year-round, such as the harvest festival in the fall, the Old Timey Christmas Festival, the Spring Tulip Festival, and many other events all summer.
My vendor spot was number forty-one. My adorable little travel trailer would be my home away from home now. I planned on spending a lot of time in it as I traveled the country, bringing my art to each and every state. It would be a fun adventure. At least that was what I reminded myself. I wouldn’t be alone in the trailer. My furry companion, a perky white Chihuahua, was always by my side. One of his oversize ears flopped down, and that was how he’d gotten the name Van Gogh.
Currently, my family was on site helping me with my trailer. Mostly they wanted to snoop to see what this new endeavor was all about. My father ran a small engine repair shop right next to my parents’ house. He was also a genius at fixing up classic cars—Corvettes, Camaros, GTOs. My mother had the full-time job of keeping my father and brothers out of trouble. Everyone said I looked a lot like my mother, with dark hair and big brown eyes the shade of a scrumptious piece of Godiva chocolate. My two brothers, Stevie and Hank, worked with my father in the shop. The three of them bickered all the time. Oddly, I knew that was their way of showing affection to one another.
Stevie and Hank had been “helping” me since my earliest memory. Like the time they helped repair my tricycle by taking it apart. Every single piece was set out on the front lawn like a jigsaw puzzle. They’d acted as if it was an innocent gesture of kindness. Or when I was in high school and they helped my date for the senior prom by taking him for a ride before the big night. My date was terrified to come anywhere near my house after that. They were my big brothers, though, and I loved them.
“We’re going to make this the best-looking booth in the craft fair,” my mother said with a wave of her hand.
My father mumbled under his breath as he tried to untangle the string lights that were meant to hang along the front of my trailer. My mother had volunteered my father for the job. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help, it was just that he always had the best intentions but something disastrous happened.
“Look, the lights are tiny little campers just like yours.” My mother pointed. “I ordered them from Amazon.”
“They’re great, Mom, but we’d better help Papa before he trips over the lights and kills himself.”
I had the rest of the evening to set up for the craft fair. It had seemed like plenty of time at first, but now I was realizing the sun had set quite some time ago and the clock was ticking. I had to make sure I had all my paintings, blank canvases, and paint for when inspiration came, not to mention I needed to make sure I had everything planned for the setup. If customers couldn’t see my paintings, they surely wouldn’t buy them.
“I love that you got some of your art framed.” My mother touched one of the gold frames.
“I thought it was nice to make some available already framed and some without, in case customers want to pick out their own frames.”
“That’s good thinking. Isn’t our daughter smart?” My mother turned her attention back to my father.
My father mumbled something unintelligible again as he attempted to get the lights untangled from around his neck.
“I told you he’d hang himself.” I ran over to him. “How did you do that, Papa?”
My mother and I spun my dad around so that the lights would come undone from around his neck.
“Can you breathe okay?” I fanned him.
He waved his hand. “I’m fine. Don’t fuss.”
My mother rolled her eyes. “He’d say he was fine even if he was blue-faced and passed out on the ground.”
“Hey, is this thing supposed to be locked?” Stevie yelled out.
Just then, the back of the trailer tipped, making one side shoot up in the air like a seesaw.
“What have you done?” I shouted.
Hank ran over to help Stevie. “That’s not how you do it. Let me show you how it’s done.”
As Hank raced toward the trailer like a bull charging toward the matador’s red cape, he tripped over his own feet and landed face-first in the mud.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” my mother said.
Stevie laughed. “Thanks for the help, bro.”
“Let me show you all how it’s done.” I gestured for everyone to step out of the way.
“Be careful, honey,” my mother called out.
The guy who’d sold me the trailer had showed me all about it. Sure, I wasn’t an expert, but I couldn’t be any worse at this than my brothers.
As I worked on the hitch, my mother yelled at my father, “Be careful on that ladder.”
Oh no. He had the ladder. This wouldn’t end well. Would the rest of the evening be spent in the emergency room? Once I secured the hitch, I hurried over to my father’s side. I held the ladder as he teetered on the edge of the top rung. The roll of tape slipped from his hands, landing on the ground. As soon as I let go of the ladder to pick up the tape, the ladder swayed and my father tumbled to the ground.
“I knew that would happen,” my mother said.
While I helped my father to his feet, Van snatched the roll of tape and darted toward the nearby giant oak tree.
“Van, come back with the tape.” I chased after my four-legged companion.
Of course, he thought this was a game and was determined to win. My brothers yelled for Van to stop as they ran behind me. After a couple of minutes of playing chase-the-Chihuahua around the old oak tree, I scooped up Van with the roll of tape still dangling from his mouth.
I handed the tape back to my father. “Are you okay, Papa?”
“I’ve had worse falls than that,” he said.
Unfortunately, that was true.
“Do you think you should climb back on that ladder?” I asked as he walked away.
“There’s no talking to him. He won’t listen,” my mother said.
We watched as my father climbed back onto the ladder with my brothers supervising. Stevie and Hank bickered back and forth about who would hold the ladder.
“I’ve never seen such chaos,” a female voice said from over my shoulder.
I spun around to find my best friend, Sammie, standing behind me. Samantha Sutton, or Sammie as everyone affectionately called her, and I had been friends since first grade. Of course, to be friends for that long we had a lot in common. We both liked eighties music, lounging by the pool in the summer, and bargain shopping. As for appearance, we were complete opposites. Sammie was tall, with long legs, and I was short. She had blond hair cut into a bouncy bob and I had long, dark hair.
“When did you get here?” I asked as I reached out to hug her.
“You mean, how much of this scene did I witness? Enough to see that it’s business as usual for the Cabots.”
I blew the hair out of my eyes. “Welcome to my world.”
“I’m fully aware of your world, remember? It’s been this way for the total of all the years I’ve known you.” She handed me a pretty pink package.
She knew how much I loved the color pink. Pretty much everyone knew pink was my signature color when they spotted my old pink truck pulling the pink trailer.
“What is this?”
“A little something I thought might make you feel better.”
“You bought me a gift? Why did you do that? You didn’t have to do that.” I immediately untied the white ribbon.
“I know I didn’t have to, but it’s just that tomorrow is a big day for you. A whole new start to life.” She moved her arm in a sweeping gesture. “It deserves a celebration.”
I hugged her again. “Thank you. You’re such a great friend.”
“Hurry and open it. I want to see if you like it.”
I hurriedly opened the package. The suspense was getting to me. My mother had slipped over to see what all the fuss was about.
“Oh, you’re ruining the paper,” my mother said.
“We could reuse that.”
My mother wanted to keep every bit of gift wrap she saw. We’d exchanged the same gift bags back and forth for six years now. If one got smashed or ripped she grieved for days.
I eased the pink paper away from the box and handed it to my mother. She slowly folded it, as if it were a piece of delicate silk. I pulled the mug from the box. A self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh was on each side.
“Do you love it? When you pour in hot liquid his ear disappears.”
I laughed. “It’s perfect.”
“Interesting,” my mother said.
The sound of a motor caught our attention. The man in charge of organizing the craft fair was driving a golf cart down the path in front of our booths. With his wide shoulders and hefty stature, Evan Wright barely fit behind the wheel of the vehicle.
“Who’s this guy?” Stevie asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
“He’s the guy in charge here,” I whispered.
“He seems shady if you ask me,” Hank said.
My brothers, mother, and father were suspicious of everyone. I tried not to be that way, although I supposed on occasion I succumbed to that attitude too.
Evan rolled to a stop in front of my booth. “It’s a bit late to be out, don’t you think?”
“There’s a curfew?” Sammie asked.
Evan eyed Sammie. “No curfew, but people are trying to sleep because they’ll be up early in the morning. I heard a lot of ruckus over here.”
“Ruckus,” Hank said with a chortle. “That’s a funny-sounding word.”
Stevie laughed too.
My mother smacked them on the back of the head with the gift wrap remnants. She meant business if she was jeopardizing her paper.
Evan tapped his fingers against the steering wheel while waiting for an answer. The gold ring on his finger clanked against the metal of the wheel.
“We were just wrapping up,” I said with a forced smile.
He scrutinized all of us for a bit longer before accelerating away.
“That was weird,” Sammie said.
“Well, it takes all kinds,” my mother said.
“Ta-da,” Papa said.
The string lights glowed in the night sky. They added just the right amount of coziness to the area. It didn’t feel quite as lonesome now. I’d worried that I’d get lonely once my family left. Yes, I couldn’t believe I’d thought that, but I had.
I hugged my father. “The lights are fantastic. Thank you, Papa.”
“Well, I should go and let you get some rest before your big day tomorrow.” Sammie raised her voice, hoping my family would take the hint and leave too.
She’d obviously noticed my yawning. The family didn’t catch subtle hints, or if they did, they ignored them. Tomorrow was Friday, the start of the fair. I needed to rest for the big event, but with my excitement, I wasn’t sure how I’d ever fall asleep.
My mother surprisingly picked up the clue. “Boys, it’s time to go.” She clapped her hands.
Somehow my mother rounded up my brothers and father. Sammie left too. I clutched Van in my arms. It was just the two of us. Tomorrow was the big day.
“I want to return this horrible painting.” The tall, willowy, gray-haired woman placed the framed canvas down on the table in front of me.
Earlier, when she’d purchased the art piece from me, she’d been impeccably dressed and practically flawless. Now, just a few hours later, she was a hot mess. Her hair tumbled around her flushed face and dark circles colored under her icy-blue eyes. Her white blouse and navy-blue trousers were now in desperate need of an iron, as if she’d slept in the clothing. Who was I to notice such things, though? My outfit had fared worse. I peered down at my paint-stained jeans. Various colors decorated the front of my white T-shirt too.
“Is there something wrong with the painting?” I asked.
She placed her hands on her slender hips. “Is there something wrong?” Now she was mocking me. “Yes, you could say that something is wrong.”
Van Gogh yipped at the woman as he wiggled in my arms. He acted as if he wanted down so that he could chase her away. In reality, in the face of any danger he would run and hide in the trailer. She glared at him. He wouldn’t bite her unless she tried to pet him. Or if she turned her back and I let him down. Van had been protective of me since the day I’d rescued him from the animal shelter.
Claiming she had changed her mind wouldn’t be a good enough reason for a return in my opinion, but what else could be the problem? If she didn’t want it, I would have to give her the money back. I was happy with my sales so far at the fair, but a return would be a financial setback.
“What seems to be the problem?” I used the sweetest tone possible.
I’d never forget the evening I painted the aforementioned piece of art. Rain had battered against the windows of my cottage, almost in rhythm with each stroke of my brush. Thunder rattled the walls and lightning had caused the lights to flicker on and off. The dense trees surrounding my place acted almost as a comforting, earthy embrace. While at home, I always felt safe from the overwhelming and hectic world.
Oil paint had been my preferred medium to bring the portrait to life. The subject of my work had popped into my mind as clear as any living person. It was as if she was pleading with me to immortalize her on the canvas. I had no idea who she was, but I knew her beauty had to be captured. She wore an ornately trimmed red-and-gold Victorian era gown with her dark hair pulled up into a French twist. That was exactly how I’d depicted her in the portrait.
“The painting is haunted,” the woman said without batting an eyelash.
I surveyed my surroundings to see if anyone else was in on this joke. Fairgoers milled around the grounds with other artists selling their wares. No one was paying attention to me or my disgruntled customer.
“Did Evan put you up to this?” I asked around a laugh.
The lines between her stone-cold eyes deepened. “I don’t know Evan. Frankly, I’m insulted that you would accuse me of anything that devious.”
Uh-oh. Now I was riling her up even more. Apparently, she was completely serious. She was a few strokes short of a finished portrait.
“Why do you think the painting is haunted?” Curiosity made me ask this question.
“Right after I bought it, I took it home and hung it up. Immediately, strange things happened. Things that had never happened before, so I knew it had to be this painting causing the chaos.” She gestured toward the canvas.
I frowned. “What type of strange things?”
She tossed up her hands in frustration. “Doors slamming, unexplained footsteps, and the painting was knocked off the wall and landed on the floor all the way across the room.”
That sounded like something out of a scary movie. Still, I had my doubts that this woman was telling the truth. I didn’t believe in ghosts.
Grabbing my bag, I pulled out the cash she had given me less than four hours earlier. “Here you are. One hundred dollars.”
It pained me to let go of the money. I had big plans for those crisp twenty-dollar bills—like buying food.
She counted the bills to make sure I hadn’t stiffed her. What kind of operation did she think I was running? After all, she was the one who thought the painting was haunted. What a crazy idea. I pushed my shoulders back and held my head high. It would be all right. Another buyer would come along who appreciated my work.
I wanted to ask her more about this “haunting,” but I thought better of it. Clearly, she was just making this up in order to return the painting. Plus, even if I changed my mind and decided to ask, it wasn’t an option now. She turned and hurried away before another word was exchanged. At least that tête-à-tête was over, and now I could go back to work.
After placing the painting back on the easel next to the other canvases, I picked up my brush to add a little more detail to my current project. While I waited for other customers to come by, I painted. I’d done fairly well at this show so far, selling four paintings already. Since this was Friday, I had the rest of the weekend ahead of me and, with any luck, I’d sell even more. My fingers were crossed I wouldn’t receive another return.
This time I was working on a portrait of a young woman and her horse. The inspiration had come from a woman I’d seen riding at a . . .
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