Painting Challenge
Perfect
By AHA
"Are you almost done? I'm starting to get a cramp in my neck."
"Just a few more minutes Mrs. Santos, and then we will take a break," Jean-Claude Artiste replied. Jean-Claude, a portrait artist, had been hired by Danny to paint Michelle's portrait.
"Is my wife giving you trouble Jean-Claude?" Danny asked as he entered the room. "Michelle, let the poor man do his job."
"I'm sorry. I'm just getting a little tired. Please remind me why I am doing this," Michelle sighed.
"I told you already--every member of the Santos family has their portrait hanging in the hallway."
"No not that reason! The other one," Michelle said giggling.
Danny stared the painting wistfully. "God she's beautiful. She's more than beautiful, she's perfect!" he thought. "Jean-Claude will never be able to capture that aura that surrounds her. Hell, I don't even think Rembrant could. If only she was mine, really mine. Get a grip Santos, Michelle could never love you."
"Danny…Danny…DANNY!"
"Oh huh," Danny said, waking from his daydream.
"Earth to Danny…I asked you to tell me the other reason."
"Oh yea," he said smiling. "You are sitting for this portrait because it will really piss my mother off."
"Then it has been worth it, however, I really am getting tired and hungry. Jean-Claude can we please take that break now?" Michelle whined and jumped up from her chair, not waiting for an answer. "Come on Danny--let's go to the kitchen and get some cereal."
"Cereal?"
"Yes cereal, come on," Michelle said, and she grabbed Danny's hand and led him to the kitchen. "So, where does the Santos family keep their cereal?"
"In here," Danny replied, and opened a huge cabinet that was loaded from top to bottom with every brand of cereal manufactured. "Name your poison."
"Oh my God!" Michelle exclaimed. "Did you hijack a Kellogg's truck? Let me see…oh wow…my favorite, Captain Crunch, with crunch berries." Michelle pulled the box from the cabinet, while Danny got the bowls, spoons, and milk.
"Captain Crunch is my favorite too," Danny laughed.
Michelle poured the cereal and milk into the bowls, and carried them to the table. "I guess it is a little childish of me to still eat Captain Crunch," she said, as she took her first bite. "Jesse thought so anyway. He always ate some stuff from the health food store that tasted like Styrofoam."
"You say you love the guy, Michelle, but the two of you really don't have a lot in common. How did you meet him anyway?"
"I was searching for my mother's heart."
"You were doing what?!" Danny said choking on his cereal.
"Searching for my mother's heart. When she died, her organs were donated for transplant. Jesse received her heart."
Danny studied her face for a moment. Then he asked, "Do you think that is why it is so hard for you to let him go? Because it would be like letting a piece of your mother go too?"
Michelle looked up from her bowl and met Danny's eyes. "I don't know…maybe," she whispered.
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Meanwhile, Carmen was passing the room where Michelle's portrait still stood on the easel. Jean-Claude had stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, and he left his supplies on a table by the painting.
"What in the hell is this?" Carmen asked herself. "If that ridiculous girl thinks I am going to allow this monstrosity to be hung in this house, she has another thing coming."
Carmen grabbed one of the brushes on the table, and loaded it with black paint. "Miss Bauer, I do believe your portrait needs just one last detail," Carmen said as she drew a large black mustache over Michelle's lip. She put the brush down, and stood back admiring her handiwork.
"There now she's perfect!"