The Potter's Daughter (Literary Series) Read Online Free PDF

indeed local treasure,” said
Mitch.   He pushed the bag forward,
“So Caroline sent these.”
    “Alas, the package.   What’s in there?”
    “Your skates, some food from the
party.   Caroline said to drop it by,
so…”
      “Mission accomplished.   My skates.   Nice.   Thank you so much.”
    Abby took the bag from Mitch.   She put the food containers on the table
and placed the skates on the floor.   Abby had not needed the skates at all still she truly appreciated Mitch
dropping them off and was truly enjoying his company.
    Mitch asked Abby about working at
the museum.   She told him about her
job and the chance of the promotion.   Mitch in turn told her about working with Caroline and Brian.   Like old friends, their conversation
flowed easy and time flew quickly.   The teacups emptied and neither minded.
     
    * * *
* *
 
     

Chapter 8
    The Bellen studio had developed
some refined systems over the many years in operation.   The pottery moved through a make shift
assembly line.   From the wheels, the
pottery was placed on one of the tables near the entrance of the studio.   All of the detail work such as the
grapevines and ivy were adhered to the urns and then after drying all were
loaded into one of the kilns.   After
firing, the kilns were unloaded to the tables on the far side of the room to be
painted and if needed glazed before being fired again.   Will had started the new order this
morning with this first urn, so he had to make room on the tables by filling
the kiln.
    Five four-foot high urns were
detailed, dried, and ready for firing.   Will prepared the kiln and then went to the table to begin loading the
urns.   The urns were ornamented with
flora and fauna and these particular urns composed a set, each one with
different flowers and birds.   The
first urn Will picked up had long stems of honeysuckle and hummingbirds.   Will was able to create the clay
hummingbirds in minutes.   The detail
of the honeysuckle still took a good part of an afternoon.   Each petal was made separately and then
added to the flower on the stem.   Will wrapped his arms around the urn and effortlessly lifted, the entire
weight bearing on his strong legs.   He carried the piece into the kiln and then returned to the table to get
the second urn.   This urn had
beautiful sparrows and cherry blossoms.
    Will put all of the weight on his
legs again and lifted the second urn carefully then turned toward the
kiln.   A tremor began in his
forearm.   Will squeezed the urn hard
and tried to hurry his legs, to no good.   His forearm then his hand went weak.   The urn began to slip.   Will was powerless to do anything.   Quickly he tried to kneel to bring the
urn closer to the ground to avoid a crash.   Will’s arm gave out first.   The urn fell from his grasp onto the cement floor with a loud thwacking
sound.
    Down on one knee Will stared at the
at the large triangle shard of grey clay with the cherry blossoms still intact
and closely bound to their branches.   Across the floor were spread pieces of sparrow and blossom.   Will inspected the pieces where they
fell while he massaged his weak arm.   The hand that had failed him was shaking slightly.   He squeezed his palm tightly to steady
the shaking.   Then in a quick
motion, without getting up from the floor, he grabbed the large shard with both
hands and threw the clay at the wall letting out a loud wail as he did so.   The shard fragmented into small pieces
upon hitting the wall.   Will’s face
was red.   Needled pains shot through
his weak arm.   He picked up another
large piece next to him and threw this shard less forcefully than the
first.   The shard landed short of
the wall and broke apart on the floor.
    The studio door swung open and in
came Abby and Mitch.   Will was still
kneeling over the broken urn.   Abby
could see there was broken urn all over the floor at the end of the
studio.   She knew exactly what had
happened.   If the urn