A Dream of Home

[Catche Jagger]

((Sapphire Waters: PREGAME START))

The Museum of American Art had been a semi-regular place for Sapphire to hang out over the past couple of years.

She found the aura of the whole space to be relatively soothing, as she explored the halls and admired the craft on display. Sapphire had enjoyed coming here with friends, but it was quite possible that she liked her time here alone even more.

Sapphire was a regular and amicable enough visitor that she was on friendly terms with many members of the museum staff already, so if they were not too busy she might seek out a bit of conversation with them, should the need ever arise.

She sat down before one of the many paintings hung in the museum’s permanent collection: a painting of a person playing the fiddle, a slight smile teased across their lips. The plaque to the right identified the piece as “Gypsy Serenade” and she’d seen it many times before.

The piece was a collection of blues and blacks and whites that blended all parts of the painting together. The player, bent down on one knee, seemed to exude such a serene joy, but the melancholy colors told a different story.

Was it regret? Had they lost something for their art? Someone? Or was the music the only way back to a life, a place long lost to the player?

It was bittersweet for sure, Sapphire thought.

As thoughts of blue and white and home circled her head, she considered that it was amazing to have a place like this right in the city. Right at home.

Sapphire liked Chattanooga a lot, actually.

It felt like, as a teenager, she was supposed to hate her hometown unless she was a cheerleader or an aspiring housewife or something like that and Sapphire wasn’t either of those things, she thought.

Still, she felt like an exception, like she must have missed the memo somewhere along the way where she was supposed to realize that the whole city was actually full of shit. Or maybe it was just that pop culture was written by those that did hate their hometowns, going on to then project those emotions into everything they created.

Would she miss Chattanooga on the class trip?

Sapphire had left the city for an extended time before, but it was always on trips with her family. Now, she’d be leaving them behind too. It was a lot of home to leave behind.

She felt a momentary pang of guilt, thinking about leaving them behind, considering how Papa was doing and all. She knew they’d encouraged her to go when she’d brought it up… but what if something happened while she was gone…?

The girl closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. For now she had to just stay here, in this moment.

The trip was for another day.

((Sapphire Waters continued elswhere))