Read Relics for Free Online

groceries. That wasn’t how it had turned out. The only jobs so far involved digging in the dirt, and the big money had gone to the outsiders, with their nosy questions that never helped anybody but themselves. Well, the little tutor girl was an exception, Ronya reflected. She was a sweet thing, and she seemed to be doing her best for the settlement kids.
    The children needed her, no doubt about that. Children born to parents too tired and beaten down to even teach them their letters were doomed. Children like that started school too far behind to ever catch up. She’d made sure her own Zack heard the alphabet every day of his short life. Come fall, when he started school, his teacher would see that he could read all the letters and even some words. Zack’s teachers would always know that he came from folk who valued learning. But not every child had that chance.
    Ronya hadn’t been surprised to see Carmen Martinez on the doorstep, but she hadn’t expected to see the skinny little woman archaeologist, the one who came from outside but was as brown as a Sujosa. She’d heard about Faye Longchamp from Elliott and Fred and Jorge. They were pretty sure their work would be harder when the boss lady arrived. Ronya wondered at folks who would go around digging up other people’s secrets, without first bothering to ask whether they cared.
    Excerpt from an Interview with Mr. Leo Smiley, Wednesday, October 26
    Interviewer: Carmen Martinez, Ph.D.
    CJM : Mr. Smiley, I understand you and your wife both descend from very old Sujosa families.
    Leo Smiley : If you mean it’s been a long time since anybody in our families married an outsider, then you’ve got that right. My father’s grandmother came from outside, and Ronya had an outsider great-great-grandmother, but neither of us can help that.
    CJM : What kind of work does your wife do?
    Leo Smiley : She’s a potter. A ceramic artist, actually. And a good one. You won’t find any pottery finer than what Ronya makes.
    CJM : I don’t know anything about pottery, except that it’s a beautiful art form. Does she work in a particular style?
    Leo Smiley : I don’t know that her style has a name. She just adapts traditional Sujosa designs.
    CJM : How wonderful! Are there galleries nearby where I can see some of her work?
    Leo Smiley : Galleries like artists with lots of training. But teachers cost money, so Ronya’s galleries are Hanahan’s Grocery and the roadside flea market.
    CJM : But if she’s that good, she deserves the best training. I got all the way through the university on scholarships. She could—
    Leo Smiley : Don’t talk to me about scholarships. Don’t even say the word. I know what art department scholarships are like. They pay your tuition, and that’s about all. I spent two years at the university, carrying a full course load and working at a job that would almost feed me. All the time, I was trying like hell to find someone willing to offer Ronya a scholarship, too, so she could get the same education I was chasing. I don’t know why I wanted that so bad. Maybe so we could both starve together.
    CJM : You’re an artist, too?
    Leo Smiley : I was a sculptor.
    CJM : Was? I don’t think an artist ever stops being an artist.
    Leo Smiley (Interviewer’s note: Mr. Smiley is about a foot taller than I am, but at this point in the conversation, he leaned down until we stood face-to-face at an uncomfortably close distance.) : I work at the limerock mine. I take big pieces of limestone and make them into little bitty pieces of limestone. I guess you could say I’m still sculpting. I sculpt gravel, Dr. Martinez.
    CJM : Is there a strong artistic tradition among the Sujosa? Did anyone teach you to sculpt?
    Leo Smiley : I’ve always made things out of rock and wood. Sometimes even out of clay, though that’s more Ronya’s department. Nobody taught me. It’s just something I have to do. Not that I have the time, lately.
    CJM : But you said that your wife adapts