by Jeannie Yee Davis
He sat there, brush in hand, fast strokes up, down, and across, and a golden sunlit sky appeared across the canvas on a wooden easel. With a few skillful dabs, puffs of clouds soften the sun’s rays, casting a shadow on the deep blue ocean waves the painter laid beneath the sky. With precise, quick strokes, thin fronds came to life, swaying from the canopy of the palm trees, suspending above the glistening sand. And the sounds of the low waves and gentle breeze waft into his ears as his toes hide in the warm sand.
The bespectacled painter grabbed his water bottle from under his stool, breaking the young man’s trance from painting to painter. Their eyes lock, each curious about the other. The artist gulped short sips into his parch mouth. He wiped the drool off his shaggy pewter beard with his hand and nodded, “Son, would you like me to paint you something?”
“Can you paint me a dream?”
“I can paint anything you can dream of,” he said.
“Can you paint a hammock swinging from that palm tree with me lying in it wearing a bird of paradise aloha shirt, Bermuda shorts, straw hat, and shades? Paint a pretty brunette in a cotton dress and put her right in my arms?”
As quickly as the young man spoke, the scene appeared as he described. The young man stared in awe as the brunette emerged on the canvas wrapped between his arms in a long purple hibiscus cotton Hawaiian ruffled sleeves dress. “How did you know to paint that dress?”
The painter finished the last strokes, put down his brush, and pointed behind the young man to the pretty brunette modeling a long purple hibiscus cotton Hawaiian ruffled sleeves dress. “Son, I said I can paint you anything. I did my part. Now, you do yours.” He nodded to the brunette.
The young man smiled at the brunette. Thanked the painter, “You are a magician. You sure did paint me a dream.”
