This is the first picture in the sketchbook that Donna discovers in The Bird that Sang in Color. Music is already a part of the picture as it shows a bunch of albums beside Vincent, but it also reveals another type of music–the music of childhood. A time without rules, except for those imposed by adults; a time for reading comic books and listening to albums without feeling guilty. Most of all, a time of freedom, which is the major theme of this novel. That is, Donna discovers that true happiness comes from living by drawing her own pictures, instead of copying from someone else; from not conforming to society’s expectations and artificial constructs. She comes to realize that Vincent always had the music of childhood inside of him, even as an adult–the music of spontaneity, freedom, and joy! Hope you enjoy the following excerpt from this novel.
I put the kettle on for tea, even though it was really tough to do because I would only be making one cup, instead of two. I looked up at the shelf in his kitchen to see several different kinds of tea and decided on the Lady Grey. I went back and sat in my chair with my tea and closed my eyes and asked Vincent and Mom for strength, and then a fresh batch of tears came furiously out of my eyes—endless grief tears that left me dehydrated with a desert thirst.
I gulped a glass of water and went into his room where there was a big box off to the side and opened it to see lots of small unfinished, wooden boxes that he must have made by hand. I opened one and found a deck of tarot cards wrapped in a piece of golden silk material. I looked in a few of the other boxes to see the same thing in each of them.
I went to his desk, sat down, and started opening drawers. One had a bunch of letters in them, some dating back to the seventies, and most of them were from me. I sent letters to him when he went away to college and when I went away to college. He’d write back closing his letters with something like “I love hearing from you better than Breyers ice cream.” I sent postcards from Europe when Randi and I spent a month there, after our sophomore year. He saved every letter and postcard I ever sent him.
Underneath the pictures, there was an eight by eleven sketchbook, which looked like the same one I saw that day in his apartment in Ventnor. I pulled it out and flipped through it, seeing that it was full of drawings he made of himself at various stages of his life. They were made with markers and their bright colors stood out against stark white paper kind of like he stood out against the backdrop of the world. They were cartoonish but real, and I could almost hear and touch him through these drawings.
The first one was of him as a young teenager, dressed in blue jeans, a green-and-blue striped T-shirt, and Converse high tops. He was slouched out over an invisible floor, reading a Thor comic book with a look of contentment. Beside him were albums by the Beatles, Donovan, and The Incredible String Band, and a big hard-bound book by Tolkien. I could still see him as a boy reading that comic book in our den as I’d sat on the chair beside him reading The Wind in the Willows, looking down at his comic book occasionally to see all the cool pictures.
“What’s it about?” I said to him, my eyes gazing down at the page.
“It’s about this doctor who can change into a superhero,” he said, turning towards me.
“What’s a superhero?”
“It’s somebody with superpowers, like he’s really strong and mighty.”
“Why does he change into one?”
“To fight the bad guys.” He never tired of my questions or made me feel stupid for asking them.
“Oh,” I said. “Want to know what my book’s about?”
“Nah,” he said.
This post is part of my latest blog series on the artwork that inspired the family saga, The Bird that Sang in Color. The art featured in these posts comes from a sketchbook that belonged to my brother, Vincent, which I discovered shortly after his death. It had pictures he’d drawn of himself throughout various phases of his life. This pictorial autobiography caused me to wonder what pictures I’d have of myself by the end of my life, which motivated me to live more fully. In writing this novel, I was able to share this powerful realization with the world. This novel is the third book in the Greco Family Trilogy. Each one of these family trilogy books is told from a different family member’s point of view. This one is told from the perspective of the Greco family matriarch, Donna.
Grace Mattioli is the author of the Greco Family Trilogy books, including Olive Branches Don’t Grow on Trees, Discovery of an Eagle, and The Bird that Sang in Color. These books are available from all major online book sellers, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple Books.
