Page 3 of We Fell Apart

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And that he spent his youth in a Swedish tuberculosis sanatorium.

And that he was raised by queer fishermen in Alaska.

I flip through some of his most famous paintings online. Turbulent seas, burned forests, monsters, nudes, people in contemporary clothing confronting fairy tale creatures, castles crumbling, animals transforming into people. They’re beautiful and disturbing at the same time.

Then I’m looking at a painting of my mother.

4

Persephone Escapes the Underworldshows

a castle built of stone.

It is burning.

Doesn’t matter that stone doesn’t burn. It burns anyway.

From the windows at the top, black smoke pours.

The drawbridge is in flames, as well.

Kingsley has painted Isadora Hirschel Klein

as Persephone, wife of Hades.

In Greek mythology, Hades was lord of the underworld. But Persephone never wanted to live down there with him. She wanted to breathe a different air.

My mother wears a white slip of

see-through fabric.

We look at her through a

haze of smoke that billows into the foreground.

She doubles over with fatigue, but her face is alight with laughter, as if she’s marveling at her own

escape.

—

The phone ringsin my hand and I startle.

My mom very rarely calls me. She lives in Mexico City. “Why are you the mostly naked runaway queen of the underworld?” I bark, without saying hello.

“What did Kingsley want?” she shoots back.

“He invited me to visit. He’s giving me a painting.”

“Giving you a painting? God, they’re worth a ton.”

“I won’t sell it, so it doesn’t matter.”

“Why not? You should definitely sell it.”

“Because it would be the only thing I have in the world from my father. Did you give him my email?”

“I haven’t heard from Kingsley since before you were born.”

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