Ashley & Milo

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  "Have you eaten?" I asked when Ashley arrived on time in the morning.

  We both had, so I started right in putting up the screen to hold the plaster. It didn't take long. Ashley was quiet while I worked, not wanting to distract me I suppose. In the center, I put up my base of plaster.

  Then I said, "This is where it gets tricky. Too much or too wet plaster will come peeling off and fall. I'm going to make more depth to this and then start putting in the design. If you can keep the pallet loaded with plaster, this will go along very well and quickly." God did we ever make a team. Never again would I attempt this without a helper.

  "Okay, now I am going to make a circle. The wire you spoke about last night is in the exact center. Would you hold this end of a string that has a loop in it and goes over that wire? I'll measure out two and a half feet. That is the radius of the circle. Okay now let the loop turn as I inscribe it. A perfect circle should result. Beautiful and I want two more so I will make the next radius six inches longer than the previous one and one more which will give the larger circle seven feet.

  "Hey Ash Baby, can you see me doing this alone? Okay, now for the star. I figured this out before. I want five points equidistant on the circumference of the smaller circle. It should be thirty-one and a half inches from one point to another. Let's try it. Ah, beautiful, almost there and I only have to adjust a little. Would you hold the straight edge steady while I inscribe in the five points? See now we have a star. Good, now I have to work quickly to get the depth I want. This is where I worry about getting all the way around the circle with my design before it sets up and I can't work it."

  I barely made it. When I finished this part of the ceiling, I had a star that appeared to be floating in the center and two rings further out that I had inscribed a design of five of the zodiac signs. I just picked five at random, but I guess someone above me helped decide. Calvin and Ashley had the same sign. The sign for the baby was one I had inadvertently picked of the month he/she would be born in. I picked my own unconsciously and did the same for each of my daughters.

  Ashley and I plopped down on the floor and stared up at what we had accomplished. "Looks pretty damned good don't you think, Buddy?"

  "What happened to Ash Baby?"

  "Do you like that?"

  "I think I do, but only coming from you. You know you are an amazing person. It was just a week ago I was ready to pick up Calvin's gun and shoot myself. Today I'm enjoying life more than I have since I was with Calvin. How about you? Are you having fun?"

  "You know it, Ash Baby."

  We went back to work knowing there was a long way to go. I did the corners, drawing a quarter-circle out two feet. "Do you want to try your hand at putting something in the space between here and the corner?"

  "I couldn't! I'd spoil your work."

  "Nah, you wouldn't. It is such a small space, if it doesn't come out, we'll just trowel it over and do it again."

  "All right, but you do the first corner. What would you suggest?"

  "I was thinking of staying with a sky motif. A quarter moon and an almost full moon on one end and a third moon and a half moon on the other end."

  "Okay, you do the third moon so I can watch."

  "First I put up the compound and then I do the outline. Look how I make it thicker nearest the corner so from every angle it doesn't look flat. Bevel the inside of the moon for the same reason. Now take this little tool I made and scrape away everything down to the base, leaving a third moon. It is the different shadows and angles that trick the eyes into giving you the perception of depth. Remember how I cut the edges of the star in deeper on one side than the other? It is the same principle here."

  "Don't watch me. You'll make me nervous." She looked at me as if I should say something. It came to me.

  "Just as you say, Ash Baby."

  I could see this was what she was waiting for. I didn't go near Ashley as she worked on the half moon in the corner. I started filling in everything but the design figures. I used a stiff vegetable brush and an orderly design to break up the broad flat expanses. I had the opposite half of the room done before Ashley had finished her moon.

  I switched sides with her and she soon finished the quarter moon in the third corner. I walked over and examined her effort. It was excellent and it was just the correct size. I worked like the devil to finish the rest of the ceiling.

  "Milo, I'm having trouble getting this one right. It looks too chunky or something."

  I walked over and I agreed that it did. "Try making the front a little less wide. Remember how the first TVs had a problem with close-ups. The front of an object looked bigger than the back. Matter of perception, so try it and maybe that will help." Ashley tried it and her problem disappeared.

  We lay down on the floor and admired our work again. "God it is beautiful and so symmetrical." We stared at it some more. She was quiet.

  "You're thinking it needs something more, aren't you?" I asked this because it was what I was thinking.

  "Maybe, but what? We were lying there and then suddenly she bounced up and went down the stairs. She was gone more than twenty minutes. She came back and handed me a star shaped cookie cutter. "How about making some stars at random all over the biggest expanses?"

  When we finished the ceiling it looked like it had star appliqu?s here and there on it. It was just what was needed and I said so. Ashley was so proud of her contribution. Just then there was a knock on the door. "Good, lunch is here I ordered it when I was hunting for the cookie cutter. You go get washed up and I will lay it out."

  I laughed. I knew I was covered with plaster, but I bet I had a lot less on me than Ashley did. "No you wash first." She didn't object and gave a little scream when she looked in the bathroom mirror.

  After working on the ceiling, papering the walls was a snap and we finished with time to spare. I cut the paper, pasted it, positioned it and let Ashley brush out the wrinkles. We rolled the rug up and struggled with it down the stairs. Just as we reached the bottom, the new rug for the girls' bedroom was delivered. An extra ten bucks to the driver helped put it in the room so I could lay it tomorrow.

  "Milo, we have been working twelve hours. Do you have more planned for tonight? To be honest, I'm tired and you must be exhausted."

  "Nope, nothing more. I'm going to walk you home and then I'm going to crash. I see you supplied linen and blankets for my bed. You must have been up half the night."

  "I wanted to go to bed tonight knowing you had a home of your own. It was worth being up a little later."

  "I appreciate everything you are doing for me."

  "Good, I feel the same way about what you are doing for me too."

  I walked Ashley home and when we got there, she hesitantly asked, "Would you like to come in for a few minutes?"

  "No, I don't think I had better. Someday I might, but not tonight. We both are vulnerable right now. Wait until we know each other better. Besides you only asked me because you felt you should. It would be boorish of me if I accepted."

  "You are a very perceptive person, Milo Burns. Let me ask you to give me a friendly kiss and hug goodnight, knowing it won't lead to anything."

  Ashley was the first woman I had kissed since Jean had asked for a divorce. I did just as she asked, maybe holding the hug just a little longer than I should have. I pulled away and said, "Goodnight, Ash Baby." I didn't remember walking back to my apartment for my thoughts were still behind me.