February 23, 2012 @11:32 pm
This was inspired by the prompt 'Write one leaf in which you describe the shape of a heart' on WriteOneLeaf. It first appeared on my Tumblr.
“Mummy, draw me a heart,” Ethel said. She held out a piece of white paper and a red felt-tip pen, her fingers making many creases in the paper where she was gripping it tightly.
“What must you say?”
“Please, Mummy.”
“Sure, darling.” Her mother drew a shape that looked like a Fuji apple. Full, yet with a certain delicateness aura about it.
“Mummy, that looks like the apple I like to eat. Can I have a skinny heart?” Her mother drew another heart.
“Mummy, this one looks like a dancer! The type that waits for the man to come and sweep her off her feet and looks shy. Can you draw something like the hearts they show on TV?” Her mother sighed and drew yet another heart. Ethel was extremely persistent when she wanted something, and she was not going to stop until she got what she wanted.
“Mummy, now this looks like the momotaro from the book I’m reading! I need to give this heart to my teacher!” Ethel stamped her foot.
“Oh? And why?”
“Because she said so! We need to draw hearts and give them to her, and then she will give them to the children in the hospital who cannot go home and sleep in their beds and play with their toys.”
“Ethel darling, that is a wonderful thing to do. My, my, there are so many ways to draw a heart. I want to draw a nice one. Why don’t you show me what you are thinking of?”
“But Mummy, then I will have to draw, and I CAN’T DRAW.”
“You can write, can’t you? Well, drawing a heart is like writing the letter ‘M’, only you have to make the tops rounded, and join the bottoms. Come on, show me what you are thinking of.”
Ethel furrowed her brows and drew an M. “It isn’t working Mummy.”
“Try a few more times. If you can’t show me what you are thinking of, I won’t know what to draw.”
Ethel picked up the pen, stuck out her tongue in concentration, and started writing-drawing. She drew grass patches, a king’s crown, a fluffy cloud, and a series of squiggles that looked suspiciously like symbols that came straight out of the chapter on Electricity and Circuits.
Finally, Ethel got it. It was a slender symmetrical heart that looked fun and tall. She coloured the shape, and outlined it with a black Sharpie marker.
“Mummy, this is the heart. Can you help me to draw more on a nice piece of paper?” She paused. “Please?”
“Sure. Will you draw with me?”
“No.” Her mother raised her brows.
“But I will write some hearts.” Her mother smiled, her eyes twinkling mischievously.
Labels: heart, writeoneleaf