“Sandi, do you have any idea just how talented you are? This painting is absolutely beautiful.” Mary stood back and looked at Susan’s birthday present. “The light in it just seems to glow. And the flowers, they look like you could reach out and pick one. I envy you your talent. Do you know what people pay for paintings of this quality?”
“Thank you, Mary. I’m glad everyone thinks it’s a nice picture. I did the best I could, but I’m not really very good.”
“Sandi, you are wrong. This is much more than just a nice picture.”
Sandi appreciated the praise Mary was giving her, but still she could not see anything out of the ordinary. She had worked hard to make the painting special for Susan; other than that, it was just one of the many that she had painted over the past years. Some were better, but most were in the attic gathering dust… like the picture she had done for her mother so many years ago.
“Sandi,” Mary interrupted her thoughts, “would it be all right if I have a friend of mine come and look at this? She was my roommate at college, and she’s going to be here for the weekend. Do you have any more paintings?”
“I have some things in the attic, but they’ve been there since we moved last summer. I don’t think there’s anything anyone would be interested in. Why do you want her to see this?”
She has a little shop in Manhattan. She sells a variety of unique things there, and I believe she might be interested in your paintings. Of course, she would have to see what you have, but I know she will love this one. What do you think? It couldn’t hurt, could it?”
“Well, I guess not, but I can’t imagine that anyone would pay for them. I never thought about selling them. I just paint because I enjoy it.
Several days later, as Sandi was cleaning up after supper, the phone rang. “Sandi, my friend Eleanor is here. Do you have time to meet us over at Mom’s?”
“I guess if you can give me a few minutes to finish up here.”
“Sure, see you in a few minutes then.”
Sandi hung up the phone. She wondered about what Mary’s friend would say about the painting that she had given Susan. She had never shown her work to anyone, other than family and a few friends. She was not sure how she would feel if this woman didn’t like it. Oh well, she thought, I guess I’m going to find out. It doesn’t really matter anyway. Mary is just being nice to me.
As Sandi walked across the freshly mowed grass she could hear laughter and friendly voices coming from Susan’s open windows. An unfamiliar, very expensive looking silver car was sitting on the street in front of her friend’s home.
“Come right on in, Dear,” Susan greeted as Sandi came up the porch steps. Susan put her arm around Sandi’s shoulder and guided her inside. “Come in and meet Eleanor.”
A tall, elegant woman stood and extended her hand to Sandi. She was breathtakingly beautiful with eyes and skin the color of a strong cup of coffee. “It is so nice to meet you, Sandi. Mary has been telling me about you and your little girls. They sound absolutely charming.”
Sandi, feeling completely out of her league, spoke as she reached out and shook the other woman’s hand. “The girls are my pride and joy, but I’m not sure charming is the word I would use. They walked over to visit Tina for a little while. Tina is a friend of my older daughter, Joletta. My little one is Annie,” she explained to the newcomer.
After several moments of small talk about Mary and Eleanor’s college days, Susan invited them to come into the formal dining room where she had a tray of fresh cookies and iced tea already sitting on the large mahogany table. There was a smaller sunny sitting room next to this – Susan’s favorite room in the whole house. She had spent many happy hours enjoying the warm sunlight that filtered through the sheer curtains. Here, on the wall above a white, brick fireplace, was where Susan proudly displayed her “birthday painting.”
The exotic woman from New York City walked over and stood several feet away, quietly focused upon the artwork.
Now the painting was in a wonderful handcrafted wood frame and matted with sky blue. A narrow outline of soft yellow to match the floral print of the room’s wall border finished the presentation.
“How long did it take you to paint this, Sandi? I can certainly see why Mary was enthusiastic when she called me the other day. It is simply enchanting. Did Mary tell you about my business?”
“She told me you had a shop in Manhattan and that you sometimes sell paintings.”
“Well, I do have a small shop, but most of my sales are special orders. My clientele come from all over the country, and I sell internationally. Not only do I buy and sell paintings, but I also have glasswork and antiques. I travel and find my inventory in many different places. I focus on unique handcrafted items. Jack, my husband, takes care of the business end of things while I take care of buying new art and contracting with my craftspeople. When Mary saw how wonderfully you painted, she knew I would like your work.”
“I am definitely interested, but I would like to see more. Mary tells me you have others. Perhaps I could take one or two to display in the shop and see what customer response will be. We would need to wait and see.”
Sandi was flabbergasted! Never, not in a million years, had she ever fantasized about selling her works. “The ones I have are up in my attic, and they are not framed. I can’t imagine that they are worth going to any trouble over.”
“If the others are even close to as well done as this one, then I think you have been severely underestimating yourself. If you are interested at all, you should get them down and let me look them over. Framing would not be a problem as we can have them framed before putting them on display and would just subtract any cost, after the picture is sold, from your earnings.”
“Mary, I hate to rush, but I have that charity affair tonight, and if we’re going to go get a bite to eat first, then we need to go.”
“Sandi, call Mary tomorrow, and let her know when a convenient time would be to see your works. That is, if you decide you want to bother with it.” Eleanor extended her hand, and Sandi took it in her own and shook it. She smiled with a still unbelieving look on her face.
Mary walked over to her with a triumphant look. “See, I told you. I’ll talk to you later, O.K?” She hugged Sandi.
“I’ll be ready in just a minute, El. I need to get my things.”
They waved Eleanor and Mary off a few minutes later and watched as the car disappeared around the corner.
Joletta and Annie were just walking out the front of their house when Sandi started across the green lawn. “What have you been doing, Mom?”
“Oh, Joletta. You aren’t going to believe what just happened,” Sandi said as the three of them re-entered the house. “I’m not sure I believe it myself.”