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There was so much to look at, it was hard to let my eyes linger long in one place. It was done as a cartoon, making it fun, but there was so much more to it.
The background was a full mountain range, done in blues, greens and grays, then closer were trees and a green field with tiny flowers and taller grasses painted. All of that was amazing by itself but that was just the background.
The barn was there, and hanging over the main door was a white sign with black letters spelling out Cowpokes . The big white cross on the door was covered in a black St. Andrews cross, complete with tiny manacles.
To one side was a man riding a bull, who I’d assume to be Joel if he wasn’t front and center of the whole thing. He stood out amongst the rest of it, smack in the center, his cheesy grin, framed in his goatee, a tall brown cowboy hat on top of his head.
He was shirtless, holding a saddle over his shoulder, and Xen had painted him with more muscle than he had, but it was him, no doubt. Around his neck he wore a spiked collar, and I chuckled when I saw it.
Damon and I were there…though not our faces. There were two identical men, hugely muscled, one a little bigger than the other in height, and both wore tight black shirts and black pants along with cuffs on their left wrists, showing they were the dominants. Their arms were crossed over their big chests, and I got a closer look to see their names on their shirts. Sure enough, one read Damon and the taller of the two read Burke . Our heads, however, were two snarling bulls, complete with tall horns.
Damon went to his and stared up at it, laughing in his awe. “This is fucking amazing. Oh my god.”
To the right of the barn Puck and Patch, smiling, were playing in the field. Millie stood in front of the barn, with a red bandana around her neck and she was waving. Everyone smiled in toothy grins, even the two snarling bulls, and the entire scene screamed happiness. Our whole lives were there, all from the mind of a man that had visited only twice. I felt revealed in the painting, and I felt what Xen had seen.
Our love and our family.
I went to Xen and reached out my hand. “First, a shake, because the respect I have for your gift is overwhelming.”
Xen lifted his hand and brought it down to mine, shaking it hard as he grinned up at me.
“Now, unless your Memphis wouldn’t like it, I’d like to hug you.”
Xen came right into my arms, and I hugged the little man tightly.
Damon came over, calling, “I’m next!”
Once I let Xen go, Damon took over the hug as I went to Joel next. “You helped; you get one too.”
Joel melted into my arms, and it hit me then, the mural making the entire thing real. He was ours, forever ours. “Ain’t it just purty?”
“It’s perfect. I couldn’t have imagined this,” I pulled away, feeling the tears threatening to choke the words from me. I asked Xen, “You saw all this when you first came here, didn’t you?”
He nodded once very hard, and his bright smile accented it.
“You saw what…what we felt even before we could put it in our own words…”
Damon held me around the waist, crying his own tears. “Maybe we’re more obvious than we thought.”
“Y’all ain’t mad yer…bulls, are ya?”
“No,” we both said, and we laughed.
Damon added, “It’s pretty on the nose.”
“Did ya see Puck and Patch?”
“Yes,” Damon said, looking over at the cartoon-style versions of his beloved horses. “They’re perfect too, and Millie.”
“Xen here says he can add more critters as we get ‘em. Says after the openin’, if we got more, he’ll paint ‘em right on there.”
“So, more reasons to get animals,” Damon said slyly. “A chance for Xen to come back to stay now and again.”
“Yes,” I said, suddenly seeing it for myself, the painting filled with little smiling animal faces. “Lots of them. As many as you guys want.”
Damon found me out there later, once everyone was at the house, guzzling coffee and talking up a storm. I’d sneaked out to see it again and I was there when he walked into the barn, sitting in one of the new chairs, just staring at it. He stood behind me, rubbing my shoulders gently. “You okay?”
“I tried to slow it all down, to make so sure of the things that were obvious to everyone else.”
