She hadn’t showered that morning even though she knew she should have. She had been out late and done something she wasn’t proud of.
Chapter Two
She got to church late and sat next to a woman wearing a lot of perfume. She could see the woman’s face reflecting all the bright lights on the stage. It looked like she had a lot of makeup on, bad acne scars and a top plunged down much farther than appropriate.
Chapter Three
Everyone stood up to greet one another. She turned to the lady shook her hand. It was warm and soft and made her feel wonderful. In the light she saw that she really was quite beautiful, her makeup wasn’t as heavy as she thought and she had pulled up her blouse so it didn’t show as much as it had before. The woman complimented her on her teal sweater and said she always was attracted to that color.
Chapter Five
After the service the woman asked if she knew of a lunch place nearby. She told her they had a cafe at the church and led her there through the crowd. The lady asked her if she would like to join her and she said yes.
When she looked at him she wasn’t sure if he was drowning or just goofing around. She decided he was drowning and went into the deep end and saved him. He revived and kissed her on the lips he was so happy. He looked at her lips afterward and asked if she was cold.
Chapter Two
She went down to the bar later that night and the man she saved was there with his wife. The wife didn’t have a bra on. He introduced her as the hero who saved his life. The wife didn’t smile, just shook her hand and said thanks. He asked for her address so he could send her a thank you card and a token of his appreciation. The wife glared at him.
Chapter Three
She watched them from the bar for quite a while. They both got drunk. She didn’t. She had a snack and went back to her room to watch TV.
Satine, the mermaid who liked her blue eyeshadow and mascara, didn’t know why they were chasing her, why they were so angry. She swam as fast as she could to get away, all the time trying to remember if she had done or said something to upset them. After a long time swimming she finally remembered what it was. She had eaten their mother for lunch.
She swam until she reached a rock near the shore. She climbed up on it and waited until they got tired and hungry and went away. Then she swam off to find her sisters and tell them about being chased.
Gotta love some time to just relax and draw while on a road trip.
A Rainy Day at a Starbucks in Dallas, Texas
It is raining.
I suspect frizz is the worry for one woman and so she puts her hair in a bun. A woman’s face is barely showing, her hair covering almost all of it as she looks down at her phone. I think perhaps she compensates by showing a lot of cleavage. A woman in a green shirt doesn’t know I am drawing her as she reads People magazine. The DART glides by. The couple touch each other as they talk. I suspect they will break up soon.
While I was in Dallas this past weekend I went to a bookstore late at night. I once again found a person sitting still who would be a good subject. I drew her in my sketchbook instead of on a napkin. This time I wasn’t able to meet her as she left quickly while I was barely started on the drawing. Instead I made up a story.
__________________
The Realizing Woman
Chapter 1
Her laptop was dead so she borrowed her boyfriend’s computer to go to the bookstore and study.
Chapter 2
She finished studying and started rummaging around her boyfriend’s computer. She found a folder inside a folder inside a folder titled with her name. She opened the folder.
Chapter 3
She saw files titled with her name. She double clicked on one and when it opened it was a photo of herself nude from 10 years before, when she was 19, before she knew her boyfriend. She had never shown the photos to him or ever told him about the photo shoot she had done.
Chapter 4
She looked at the photo, and a number of others he had from the same shoot, for a long time. She was angry. She was angry that she had let herself go and no longer had that same great physique.
Chapter 5
She left the bookstore, went to her boyfriend’s house and dropped off the computer. She thanked him, broke up with him and left.
Chapter 6
She went home, stripped to her bra and panties, took a photo of herself in the bathroom mirror and titled it ‘Day One – Before’. She then got into her running shorts and tank top and went out the door. She ran 8 miles in her neighborhood, finishing at 1 am.
Chapter 7
She got home, stripped down again and took another photo, titling it ‘Day One – After’. She repeated this every day for the next 9 months.
Chapter 8
She posted her before and after photos, all 9 months worth, online as a video montage. It went viral. She became a world renowned personal trainer with videos, a workout clothing line, and fitness equipment for sale.
Her parents were communists who died before she came from Russia. She came to America when she was 23 because she found a husband on an internet dating site. He was bad and hit her once. She had learned boxing in Russia and beat the snot out of him. Then she left him.
Chapter 2
She worked hard, went to school, saved her money. She worked as an eyebrow model while she was in school, then as a railroad worker while she traveled the country, and then a psychiatrist in Boise. That year she became a US citizen, bought a cute little hat and went to celebrate the 4th.
Chapter 3
Someone took a photo of her that day and she had it put in a beautiful yellow frame she brought from Russia that had belonged to her grandmother.
Arm and Hand are at war with each other. Arm is lazy but Hand is not. But Arm find ways to stop the communication between Hand and her owner, Head. Head ends up thinking Hand is lazy too but it’s really just Arm’s message getting through, not Hand’s. Head feels like she can’t do anything since she can’t get Hand to do anything. Head needs help but Hand isn’t helping.
But one day Arm falls asleep and Hand gets a message through to Head saying, “I want to WORK, tell me what to do!” Head says, “OK! I want you to heal Mr. Sink.” And Hand goes and fixes Mr. Sink. Head then says, ” I want you to give Foot a massage” and hand does it.
Arm has woken up by this point but it is too late. Head and Hand have fixed the communications path and Arm must now obey whatever they decide to do. Arm is not happy about this but there is nothing she can do.
Head becomes very happy because she is able, for the first time, to see life through Hand. She likes the world she sees and lives happily ever after.
The End
Drawing and story by Marty Coleman, Publisher of The Napkin Dad Daily and Owner of MAKE Design and Photography Studio
