The Art of Hobbies

 

She experiments, Verta does. She paints when she gets tired of writing, and dances when she tires of that. Her nails are covered in color and her arms are covered with sunburn and dried blue paint. It’s in her braided hair and on her jeans, so she washes them and goes around bottomless.

Verta tries collages after dancing makes her sweat. The little pieces of jaded paper poke into her thighs and make her calves itch. The colors make her head spin and they tell her where they want to be placed. She ignores them sometimes, just to be mean and she knows that god must be like her. That he must look down and take joy in the unhappiness of paper.

When her arms begin to itch and red streaks from her nails have taken over, Verta washes herself in warm water from the sink. The smell of soap makes her cough and she only uses it in her hair. The blue rivulets run down the sink and she paints with them on the porcelain.

Finally she slows and sits with a glass of ice tea in her hand. It’s been a good day for Vertas, she decides. She places her ankles on the table and stares out her window. Tomorrow she will try ice skating, she decides, or bowling.