"Oh Sarah, this is classic. Where did you get these ideas from?"
Caroline rounded the canvas, staring at it like Sarah had never seen Caroline staring at any of her artwork before now.
"I guess this means you like it then," Sarah asked, eyebrows raised. "Makes me wonder what you really thought of all my previous works."
"Oh, Sarah, it's not like that, really!" Caroline looked at her, hastening to explain.
Sarah waved her hand between them complacently.
"It's alright. I'm only teasing. And anyway, even I can see how much of an improvement this is on my usual standard of work. You don't have to find some terribly diplomatic way of putting it."
"Oh thank god!" Caroline said, mock gratefully. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she sat down on the paint splattered couch, the only real piece of furniture in Sarah's work room. With richly painted nails, she patted the couch seat beside her and Sarah joined her on the couch where the both sat to stare up at her painting. "But seriously, where did you get the idea from?"
"That's the funny thing. I just woke up this morning, and there it was. Absolutely refused to go away. Even now I can see it dancing in front of me in my head. It looks exactly the same. almost. But there is just something there that shouldn't be, or. something that should be there, but isn't."
Sarah narrowed her eyes and regarded her work for a moment in silence. Swirling the wine around in her glass, Caroline sat by quietly, waiting for her friend to come to the end of her train of thought. However, at the end of it, Sarah only snapped her fingers and dropped her eyes in irritation mixed with upset.
"Nope, it's gone. But, I mean, it's still good as it is."
"Definitely!" Caroline was quick to reassure. "Without a doubt the best work that you've ever submitted to me. A couple more like this, and I'm telling you that you'll really have a great shot at getting into the top five in the artistry comp this season."
Something about that sentence took the sure smile off Sarah's lips.
"Well that's not pressure or anything!" she said, attempting to laugh it up.
"What do you mean?"
"I told you already how I got the idea. I was just thinking then, what if the idea stops at that? What if nothing like that ever comes out of me again?"
Caroline wrapped a comforting arm around Sarah's shoulders.
"If that happens, and I'm sure it won't, we'll just have to make sure that we plug you as one bloody marvelous one hit wonder then, won't we?"
With a laugh, she downed the rest of what was in her glass, then with a grin, held it up in a silent and joking plea for it to be refilled. Sarah made a show of sighing mockingly, before heaving herself back up off the couch and collecting her own glass from beside the canvas, before exiting the room in favor of the kitchen, Caroline not very far behind.
Although no light was left on in the room, her work room appeared to be bathed in it long after the two women had left. A man, tightly clothed and with long whisps of blonde white hair hanging over his forehead and upturned collar stepped out from behind one of the spidery trees, leaning against it and stared, seemingly absently, into the room the canvas was propped up in.
*
"No father, you don't understand. It's not a waste of time at all. Is that what you're wife has been telling you again? Look, I could be in the running to get a placing in this year's competitions. Father, would it really be so hard for you, just this once, to actually be happy for what I work for?"
Sarah sighed in aggravation as she listened to her father's reply coming at her from the other side of the phone connection. It was more of the same. Toby had gone to a 'proper' school. Toby had gotten a 'proper' job. Toby this, Toby that. The perfect Toby who could by all accounts do no wrong! Why couldn't Sarah be more like Toby? Why? Because Sarah was sick of hearing about bloody Toby, that was why!
To be fair, Sarah thought as a fond image of her younger brother filled her mind, none of his parent's praise had gone to his head. Or no more than was natural at least. On the occasions when he came over to her flat for a visit, they regularly had great amounts of fun. Toby was actually the only one of her family who was genuinely interested in what current work she was in the middle of and what kinds of stories were behind them. More than once, when Sarah hadn't been able to produce a story to his satisfaction, Toby had looked into her work and come up with some of his own, proving that his was not the completely maths and science orientated mind that his parents liked to think it was.
"Okay father, look, I just don't want to get into this argument with you again. Haven't we had this one enough? I'm not going to change to your expectations, and you're not going to. to change. to mine. Let's just leave it at that, okay? No. goodbye, okay? Goodbye!"
Not meaning to, but doing it anyway, Sarah slammed the phone down into its cradle and turned around to see if her dinner was ready cooked in the oven. The timer went off. However, instead of the usual beeping that Sarah was accustomed to, indeed, the beeping sound that most normal ovens made when their timer was up, the opening bars of a familiar song flooded into her kitchen.
*As the fear sweeps through, makes not sense for you,* *Everything that's done, wasn't too much fun before,* *But I'll be there for.*
Sarah snapped off the oven timer with a harsh flick of her wrist. What was that all about anyway? Music coming from an oven? That particular music? It was crazy. She stepped away from the oven in sudden haste. Her dinner probably wasn't done already anyway.
As she rushed out of the kitchen - she woke up.
*
Caroline rounded the canvas, staring at it like Sarah had never seen Caroline staring at any of her artwork before now.
"I guess this means you like it then," Sarah asked, eyebrows raised. "Makes me wonder what you really thought of all my previous works."
"Oh, Sarah, it's not like that, really!" Caroline looked at her, hastening to explain.
Sarah waved her hand between them complacently.
"It's alright. I'm only teasing. And anyway, even I can see how much of an improvement this is on my usual standard of work. You don't have to find some terribly diplomatic way of putting it."
"Oh thank god!" Caroline said, mock gratefully. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she sat down on the paint splattered couch, the only real piece of furniture in Sarah's work room. With richly painted nails, she patted the couch seat beside her and Sarah joined her on the couch where the both sat to stare up at her painting. "But seriously, where did you get the idea from?"
"That's the funny thing. I just woke up this morning, and there it was. Absolutely refused to go away. Even now I can see it dancing in front of me in my head. It looks exactly the same. almost. But there is just something there that shouldn't be, or. something that should be there, but isn't."
Sarah narrowed her eyes and regarded her work for a moment in silence. Swirling the wine around in her glass, Caroline sat by quietly, waiting for her friend to come to the end of her train of thought. However, at the end of it, Sarah only snapped her fingers and dropped her eyes in irritation mixed with upset.
"Nope, it's gone. But, I mean, it's still good as it is."
"Definitely!" Caroline was quick to reassure. "Without a doubt the best work that you've ever submitted to me. A couple more like this, and I'm telling you that you'll really have a great shot at getting into the top five in the artistry comp this season."
Something about that sentence took the sure smile off Sarah's lips.
"Well that's not pressure or anything!" she said, attempting to laugh it up.
"What do you mean?"
"I told you already how I got the idea. I was just thinking then, what if the idea stops at that? What if nothing like that ever comes out of me again?"
Caroline wrapped a comforting arm around Sarah's shoulders.
"If that happens, and I'm sure it won't, we'll just have to make sure that we plug you as one bloody marvelous one hit wonder then, won't we?"
With a laugh, she downed the rest of what was in her glass, then with a grin, held it up in a silent and joking plea for it to be refilled. Sarah made a show of sighing mockingly, before heaving herself back up off the couch and collecting her own glass from beside the canvas, before exiting the room in favor of the kitchen, Caroline not very far behind.
Although no light was left on in the room, her work room appeared to be bathed in it long after the two women had left. A man, tightly clothed and with long whisps of blonde white hair hanging over his forehead and upturned collar stepped out from behind one of the spidery trees, leaning against it and stared, seemingly absently, into the room the canvas was propped up in.
*
"No father, you don't understand. It's not a waste of time at all. Is that what you're wife has been telling you again? Look, I could be in the running to get a placing in this year's competitions. Father, would it really be so hard for you, just this once, to actually be happy for what I work for?"
Sarah sighed in aggravation as she listened to her father's reply coming at her from the other side of the phone connection. It was more of the same. Toby had gone to a 'proper' school. Toby had gotten a 'proper' job. Toby this, Toby that. The perfect Toby who could by all accounts do no wrong! Why couldn't Sarah be more like Toby? Why? Because Sarah was sick of hearing about bloody Toby, that was why!
To be fair, Sarah thought as a fond image of her younger brother filled her mind, none of his parent's praise had gone to his head. Or no more than was natural at least. On the occasions when he came over to her flat for a visit, they regularly had great amounts of fun. Toby was actually the only one of her family who was genuinely interested in what current work she was in the middle of and what kinds of stories were behind them. More than once, when Sarah hadn't been able to produce a story to his satisfaction, Toby had looked into her work and come up with some of his own, proving that his was not the completely maths and science orientated mind that his parents liked to think it was.
"Okay father, look, I just don't want to get into this argument with you again. Haven't we had this one enough? I'm not going to change to your expectations, and you're not going to. to change. to mine. Let's just leave it at that, okay? No. goodbye, okay? Goodbye!"
Not meaning to, but doing it anyway, Sarah slammed the phone down into its cradle and turned around to see if her dinner was ready cooked in the oven. The timer went off. However, instead of the usual beeping that Sarah was accustomed to, indeed, the beeping sound that most normal ovens made when their timer was up, the opening bars of a familiar song flooded into her kitchen.
*As the fear sweeps through, makes not sense for you,* *Everything that's done, wasn't too much fun before,* *But I'll be there for.*
Sarah snapped off the oven timer with a harsh flick of her wrist. What was that all about anyway? Music coming from an oven? That particular music? It was crazy. She stepped away from the oven in sudden haste. Her dinner probably wasn't done already anyway.
As she rushed out of the kitchen - she woke up.
*