Sympathy Misplaced
"Wow, she's cute. Did you draw that?" she asked. "Yes," I said, marveling at how many people can see a person sitting in a bar with a pencil and sketchbook and sketching and still not put it all together. I could hear the bartender's eyes rolling. He slipped me a shot unasked, I guess he felt my pain. Ugh, I hate Jäger.
"Can you draw me?" she asked. "Not really," I replied. "I usually try to draw something interesting to me." Blank stare, went right over her bleached head. "So why her then," she asked.
"Well, she's sixteen years old, and was arrested for doing wrestling moves on her seven year old sister. She broke her arm, cracked her ribs, damaged her spine and eventually crushed her windpipe. When her sister wouldn't wake up, she put her in the bathtub, yelled at her, and then cracked a raw egg into her mouth to see if she was "messing with her". No longer breathing, the egg just slid down her sister's throat. After about thirty minutes of this, she finally called 911. But her little sister was already dead. I thought the dichotomy between the brutality of the act and the cuteness of the girl was interesting enough to explore."
Blank stare. Probably shouldn't have used "dichotomy". She gathered her rounds of touchdowns and didn't talk to me anymore after that. I downed the Jäger.
larger one here.
Comments and faves
`Vorfas, .roma, Ego-Entity, doorman_665, and 16 other people added this photo to their favorites.
Paula Wirth (54 months ago | reply)
Especially like the coloring on this one...
Jasmic (54 months ago | reply)
you could have gone on to talk about her experiences of the largely male hegemony of the justice system...
But she wouldn't have got that either...
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Seen in my contacts' photos. (?)
moggierocket (54 months ago | reply)
Hehehehe, that is a good story...if i memorize that I can use it when some dork wants to spend the whole evening talking to me in the pub.
domrandomran [deleted] (54 months ago | reply)
this whole...is a piece of art !
wileycount (54 months ago | reply)
this is potent, but what fascinated me about that girl was how little grief appeared on her face in the mug shot (from which I think you took your model). is there some expression of emotion on her face somewhere out there? or is this the misplacement?
The Searcher (54 months ago | reply)
No this is me doing that "artist" thing that I do and seeing something that isn't apparent, and then scritching it on paper. Reality is so boring.
william schaff (54 months ago | reply)
so...wait...is this a true story?
The Searcher (54 months ago | reply)
Yep.
marc_taro (53 months ago | reply)
I forgot about how looking at your images is not the same as reading your photostream. I'm kind of not used to images with content - you know, living in modern life as I do....
"nice" piece. considered.
HoneyB12 [deleted] (42 months ago | reply)
Beyond words I can come up with before the library closes. This is *incredible* and brought to mind Lisa Steinberg. You're a hell of a writer, too. The piece, all together-it's amazing and emotive, and it hits you, haunts you while drawing you in.