The Big Red Monstrosity SOON AFTER OLIVE MOVED to Thunder Hill, she invited my mother and me over to Kyle House for what she called “a family meeting.” She wouldn’t tell me what it was about over the phone, only that it had to do with “our” father. I gritted my teeth and said we’d be there. Once we were seated in the parlour, a room my mother hadn’t entered since the day we moved out, Olive brought in a tray of tea and homemade biscuits along with a drawing of what looked like a large red penis. This drawing was pasted to cardboard, and she had propped it up on a straight-backed chair. I looked at my mother who seemed to be more interested in looking around the room that had once belonged to her. Since Olive wasn’t saying anything about the drawing, I decided I wouldn’t either. So we munched and sipped like it wasn’t sitting there and Olive told my mother she should pursue her painting talents more seriously. My mother said, “Thank you for saying that, Olive but I haven’t done much painting since Bernie died.
