Great Art

A short fictional story

“Don’t worry, Mr. and Mrs. Henderson. I have your numbers and I’ll keep my phone with me.”

“Ok, thanks. Let’s go, honey,” Dad pulled Mom’s sleeve.

Mom squeezed Adelyn, who was busy playing with her toes, and then me. “Please listen to Miss Jessica, ok, Ginny? Ask for permission first, right?”

“Yes, Mom.” I gave her a big hug back and ran to the window to watch as the car drove away.

“Miss Jessica, can I make a picture like I saw in my library book?”

She smiled over her phone, “Sounds like a great idea. Do you have art supplies?”

“They’re in my room. Can I do it there?”

“Sure. I’m going to stay out here with Adelyn. Let me know if you need help.” She sank down on the big couch.

In my room, I pulled my library book out of my backpack. Mom had read the title for me, Ancient Rome. This book had lots of blood and people without clothes and all sorts of cool, gross things that used to happen a long time ago, back in the 80’s, I think.

I tried to remember what Mom had read about my favorite part. The Romans had made these neat pictures on the walls called murals with little pieces of broken stuff. Hhmm. Yesterday, I heard Dad say we had too many mugs.

I went back to the living room, “Miss Jessica, can I have a mug for my art project?”

“Do you need me to put a little water in it?”

“No, thank you. Can I have the red one with swirlies on it?”

“Sure.” She reached around in the back of the cabinet until she found it. “Remember if you use paint not to spill anything on the floor. I can get an old sheet if you need it. Oh!” Adelyn had gotten the lid off her cup of cheerios. I went back to my room while Miss Jessica got the vacuum cleaner.

The mug broke on my art table (after a few tries). I got my glue bottle out to stick the pieces to the wall. I had only just got started on the horse when I ran out of pieces. We didn’t have any more red mugs. I tried tearing up pieces of red construction paper next, but that ran out too. Maybe I’d use paint after all. Hhmm. Miss Jessica had said not to get paint on the floor. An old sheet… Well, these sheets were old. I’d had them since I was really little. I pulled a sheet off my bed and started painting. This was a lot easier than the mosaic, but I was glad I put the sheet down because the paint was drippy.  

I had just finished when Miss Jessica came in, “Do you want strawberries and…”

She stopped in the middle of the room. Dad said really good art made people speechless. If Miss Jessica liked it this much, wait until Mom and Dad got to see it.

Photo by Taelynn Christopher on Unsplash