The Girl Who Never Was
Harold R. Thompson
I met Kate Krimple at a downtown coffee shop. Kate’s new children’s book was called Tayo and the Wolves, about a dog who claims to have lived with wolves for a week. I was to provide the cover and interior illustrations. This was the first time we’d met face to face, and I was happy to find her warm and easy to talk to. In fact, our conversation came so easily that we moved on to talking about ourselves.
“Is Krimple your real name?” I asked.
I guess that was maybe a little too forward, but the way things were going I felt comfortable asking, and I was happy to see her smile.
“No, of course not. It’s Dugger, but Kate Krimple has a better ring to it.”
She tucked a lock of dark hair behind one ear, and I wondered how old she was. I’d read her official bio (in which she was definitely Kate Krimple and not Kate Dugger), but there’d been no mention of a birth date. Then I wondered why that mattered. It just popped into my head.
“How about you?” she said. “I like to know things about my artists and illustrators. Family? Kids?”
No, I told her, I’d been married, but . . .
“She passed away. Cancer.”
I gave her the same shrug I used every time.
“It happened quite a while ago,” I added.
She offered her condolences, and asked, “So no kids?”
I guessed, as a children’s author, she was always curious about her market.
“No, we never did. I always wanted to, but it didn’t happen.”
She nodded, but her smile had faded and I could feel a darkness creeping in and knew I had to lighten the mood.
“At least my house is tidy,” I said. “More or less.”
We moved on to other topics. When the meeting ended, we shook hands and I promised to show her some sketches soon. (Continue Reading…)