Henrietta's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Henrietta woke before first light and walked to the oak tree where she'd left the cabinet the night before. The shelves were empty. All sixteen frames were gone. She knelt and ran her hand along the bare wood, checking each shelf twice as if the samples might reappear. They didn't. She carried the cabinet back to the storage shed and set it inside, then pulled the wooden desk out into the clearing where the light would be best. She arranged her needle, her linen, the flower border. Her hands shook as she positioned the fabric. Without the samples to follow, she had only her memory of the red tulip — five petals, stem, two leaves. She threaded the needle and began the first petal. It came out wrong, too wide and uneven. She started the second one. Worse. The list began in her head: the cabinet you should have brought inside, the samples you should have protected, the way you always ruin things by not thinking ahead. She gripped the needle harder. The third petal wobbled as her hand tremored. She set down her work and picked up the flower border, the proof she'd made something right once. Four days it had taken. Four days when she'd had the samples to guide her. She looked at the border's neat stitches, then at her crooked tulip. The samples were gone, but the border was still here. She could copy her own work. She positioned the border beside her linen and began a new flower, matching the pattern she'd already mastered. The stitches came easier this time. Not perfect, but steady enough. Her hands still shook, but she didn't need someone else's guide anymore.