The Picture

This was a simple assignment that had to be 350 words or less for a course I was taking. Kind of cute but some things I'd change now.

The box of crayons shifted and thumped around loudly under the arm of a little girl nearly five years old.

“I am going to color a picture of a horse,” She said matter-a-factly. She pressed her tongue to the side of her mouth and grabbed the first crayon, a purple one. She used her other hand to help position the crayon correctly in her writing hand then placed her hand down on a piece of paper sitting squarely on the dining room table. She held the crayon tightly and with a slight frown of thoughtfulness on her face began to draw the beginnings of a horse, her favorite animal. Her mother stood near the kitchen sink drying dishes with a worn-out dishtowel.

“Don’t forget the pretty mane and tail, Sara,” She reminded.

“I won’t,” Sara said as she picked up a yellow crayon and began to draw a series of squiggly lines for the mane and tale of her horse. She placed the yellow crayon down and held up her picture, examining it for any needed changes. Sara then picked up a black crayon and drew the eyes, nose, and mouth.

“I am going to draw myself in pink, because that is my favorite color. I wish I had a dress that was all pink. Sparkly pink,” She said while holding the pink crayon out for her mother to see. Her mother placed the last dish down and stepped toward the dining room table. She placed her towel down and slid into a chair next to Sara.

“Well, maybe we can get you a sparkly pink dress,” She whispered into Sara’s ear.

Sara jerked her head up and cast a toothless smile at her mother, imagining how beautiful she would be dressed all in pink from head to toe, then looked back down at her picture.

She slowly drew a stick figure of herself wearing a beautiful dress, pink of course, with bright yellow cowboy boots and a brown cowboy hat. Then, when everything looked just as it should, she placed her crayon down in the box and stared at her lovely picture. Sara looked up at her mother and said.

“Do you think maybe we could get a horse too?”