Outside In - The Gift

When Blake and Rothschild woke, it was already dark. The rumbling of  Randy's truck made the walls vibrate when he got close enough to the house, and once Roth was awake, so was Blake. Randy made a dramatic entrance through the front door with a large bundle of flowers for Torie, and something hidden behind his back. Blake was quiet, but curious. His eyes darted from Randy's weathered face to his hidden hands and back. 

"Hi honey, these are for you" he said with a smile, as he leaned in and kissed his wife gently. 

"Oh, they are wonderful! They will look great on the bookcase next to the fireplace." she flew into the kitchen and pulled down a bright red, orange, and yellow swirled glass vase. It was the one Randy got her for their 13th anniversary. The mouth of it looked like thick, candied ribbons, and when the light hit it, the warmth radiated through the room. She watched while the man at the fair blew it, shaped it, and set it down on the shelf beside her. She never even asked for it, but Randy could tell that she wanted it, and slipped the man the money on the sly with a wink. Later he went back and picked it up. 

"Well I guess she liked the flowers, huh little man?" he reached out and picked Blake up with his right arm, like he weighed nothing. Blake just nodded his head, and tried to peek over Randy's shoulder to see what he was hiding. 

"So, you want to know what's in my other hand do you?" 

"Yes" he said quietly.

"What do you think it is?" he teased.

Blake shrugged his shoulders. 

"Well how 'bout we go in here and find out." his long legs carried them both into the dining room where the flowers already filled the vase.

Blake nodded his head with a bit of a lift in the corner of his mouth.

"Okay little fella, you sit here." Randy said, as he set Blake down on one of the chairs at the table. "And we can take a look."

Blake sat there still as a shadow on the wall, watching his uncle's big hands. He thought for a minute how both of his hands would fit in the palm of Randy's, and there would still be room for his Momma's. 

"Okay, are ya ready?" he asked rhetorically. Then he set a box of pastels on the table, with a small sketch pad beneath them.

"Those are just like Momma's." Blake said with wide eyes.

Randy towered over most people, but when he got down on his knees to look Blake in the eye, he was the same height. "They sure are, they are exactly like your Mom's. As a matter of fact, they were your Mom's. These are for you Blake." 

"For me?" "Doesn't Momma need them anymore?" he asked.

"She would want you to have them, so that you can colour the world you see. Will you do that for me Blake?" 

Blake nodded his head. The sparkle in his eyes let him know that this was just the right thing to bring to him.

"You will have to wait until tomorrow Blake, right now it's time to take a bath and get ready for bed." Torie said as she handed him a warm towel, fresh out of the dryer. 

"Thank you, Uncle Randy!" Blake wrapped his arms around his uncle's neck and hugged him tight. Over his shoulder Randy smiled at Torie with one of those looks that people who spend their lives together just know. 

"You're welcome little man, now go get in the tub."