Storymania - The Sketchbook by Angela L

The Sketchbook
Angela L

Kerry was this young woman’s name. She had long blond dishevelled hair and weary blues eyes. She grew up in a poor and dysfunctional family. Her father left her when she was ten. Before Kerri’s mother died, she gave Kerri a sketchbook and a pencil because her mother knew sketching was Kerry’s passion. “Go and fill this sketchbook with memories…lots and lots of it…live a good life,” said Kerry’s mother. Her mother was her only family and when she died, Kerri had no one.
From then on, Kerry’s life was like a strayed kitten trying to find her place in the world. She had no home to go to, so she “moved” her life to a corner on the street across from a photo shop.
The busy road with trains of cars, which, moved swiftly like a dragon and colonies of pedestrians on the sidewalks separated Kerry from the photo shop. On a bright sunny day, from across the street, Kerri squinted her eyes like, a student trying to see the writings on the blackboard and saw; not very clearly, framed photos of smiling faces displayed as advertisements on the counter inside the photo shop. There was one photo she could see clearly. It was a blown up lovely family photo posted on the window. Beside it, in large black words it said, $10.00 Special Family Package. In the photo, a young couple looked happily down on their two daughters as the two daughters looked up beaming at their parents. Kerry stared at the blown up family photo like a child admiring the ending of a fairy tale. Promises of belonging and happiness radiated from the photo. Naturally it brought a smile to Kerry’s face every time she looked at it. She didn’t know why, but that photo filled her with warmth when nights got too cold or achy from sleeping on a cardboard box. The photo shop became her landmark.
In the midst of it all, Kerry thanked God for Lynn, a friend that her mother had told her she could contact when she needed help. Lynn was her childhood friend and had promised Kerry’s mother that she would provide Kerri with food. Every morning, Kerry would walk to Starbucks and wait for Lynn, an employer of Starbucks, to come out and bring her a cup of coffee, two bottles of water and a few muffins. Kerry was grateful for Lynn’s kindness and took comfort under Lynn’s provision.

At night, sometimes, sleep refused to claim her and she would go for a walk. Kerry remembered when she was young; her mom would sing “Hush Little Baby”, whenever she couldn’t sleep. Now, she was standing in the night sketching. She took her pencil and her sketchbook and sketched, with the help of the streetlights around her, the stillness that engulfed the night. The streets were desolated and only a few cars passed by. Then, she saw young boys fighting and yelling in an alley and some were smoking and probably doing drugs from across the street. Despite tingling feelings in her throat, Kerry hid behind a tree and quietly sketched the scene. The night didn’t scared Kerri, in fact, she felt free and at ease. She could walk into the deepest forest and loose her way and nobody would find her again.
Right before dawn, Kerri returned to her corner, lied down, closed her eyes and sang herself “Hush Little Baby”. The next morning, Kerri noticed there was another woman not far from her street corner. She had no blanket or cardboard to sleep on, and she wore old and torn clothes. Kerry remembered seeing her sleeping on the ground all day and sometimes begging for money. This woman had absolutely no food or water. From time to time, she and Kerry would stare at each other and every time this woman looked at Kerry, it would send shiver down Kerry’s spine. The woman’s eyes were as piercing as a screeching high pitch sound. The hollowness in her eyes went as deep as the blue ocean. There was nothing, but emptiness, inside of her.
Kerry told herself she was stronger mentally and physically than this woman and would survive longer than her. Kerri may not have a home but she would never pity herself or let anyone sympathize her. This was why, sometimes, in the morning or afternoon; she would wander around and tried to blend with the flow of people walking up and down the streets. Only, Kerry didn’t have a destination. She was simply wandering. At times, she would wander so far that it would take her hours to find her way back to her corner.

On the way, she observed the faces of many people as they walked toward her direction. Some looked distressed as if one little incident could set their temper on fire. There were others, however, whose expression was calm and pleased. Then, there were those who looked lost and scared by the complex streets layout and the honking and roaring sounds of cars.
In the afternoon, Kerry walked back to her corner like a child getting a time out at recess. Kerry sat on her worn-out card- board while the world spun merrily without her. The other woman who sat not far from her died a few days ago. Kerry vowed she would never end up like her because she considered herself a survivor.
Every so often, Kerry would take out her pencil and sketchbook and recapture the many faces that she saw when she wandered around the streets. She reminded herself that she would give one of her sketching to Lynn for her unfailing kindness. Over the last two weeks, Kerry had already filled half of her sketchbook and more than half of it was sketching of the photo shop from across the street. They were sketching of the shop from different perspectives, side view, front view, distant view and close up view.
Every so often, Kerry noticed a young man, in his mid 20s, always around helping people on the street. She saw him helping an old man crossed the street, helped a woman called a tow truck after her car’s batteries went dead in the middle of the road and assisted a young child who seemed to have lost her parents. There could have been more incidents but Kerry couldn’t remember. The main thing was this young man was always around patrolling like a police officer. Whenever Kerry saw this man near, she would sketch him fervently onto her sketchbook.
Few days later, Kerry decided to walk to Starbucks to give Lynn one of her sketching as an act of gratitude for providing her everyday with muffins and water. When she got there, her jaws dropped when she heard Lynn had left her job. Kerry just stood there starring into space, into nothingness. Tears welled up her eyes and she knelt on the floor crying “Why? Lynn made a promise. Why? She was my friend. Where am I going to get food and water?”

It had been a few days since Lynn left her job. During this time, Kerry had been eating leftover muffins and drank from the four bottles of water she had saved earlier. After today, she would only have one muffin and two bottles of water left. Despite her sudden change of living condition, Kerry stood firm on the vow that she made in the beginning, she would never pity herself and never end up like that woman whom later died on the street, somehow, she would survive and live a good life.
One afternoon, as Kerry was sitting at her corner nibbling on her muffin, she saw the same young man whom she took sketches of earlier, coming toward her. He wore a simple t- shirt and blue jeans. This man had a very soft expression on him; his eyes were ones that Kerry had never seen before in her entire life, they were so compassionate. A genuine smile spread across his face as he said “Hi I’m John. I work from across the photo shop. Don’t worry, I don’t mean any harm trust me. I just want to see if there’s anything I can do for you.” Kerry looked at him wide eyed like the Mother Theresa was speaking to her. All Kerry could say was, “Hi, Kerry.” The young man smiled and nodded.
Kerry thought to herself, “Anything you can do? No, nothing. I survived living on the street on my own. I know I am running out of food soon and I don’t have any money but I will think of ways to survive. I don’t need Lynn and I certainly don’t need you. I’m happy the way I am.” Finally, Kerry said, “No, thank you,” The young man nodded and said, “I brought you a blanket anyway, it’s getting colder at night,” Kerri was furious. Didn’t this young man hear her? Kerry screamed at him and said, “Didn’t you hear me? I said I don’t need anything. I will find a way to survive on my own. The last thing I need is your pity. Don’t you pity me!” At the sight of Kerry’s reaction, John stood his ground and placed the blanket in front of Kerry. Then, he patted on her shoulder and said, “It’s okay,” And walked away.

The following night, Kerry cried for hours at her corner and fell asleep. She woke up in the middle of the night and ate the rest of the muffin and drank the last drip of water and as she did so, she thought how was she going to survive?
The next morning, Kerry woke up and the first thing she saw was three bagels and two jars of milk. Immediately, she rubbed her eyes to see if she was dreaming but then she heard cars honking and footsteps and knew she was not dreaming. Joy filled her heart. She ate one bagel and saved the rest for later. Ever since Lynn left her job and the incident from yesterday, Kerry stayed at her corner all day and avoided eye contacts from people in the streets.
At night, if Kerry couldn’t sleep, she would stay curled up at her corner, sometimes till morning. All she did was sleep and from time to time, nibbled on a bagel and took small sips of milk. The sketchbook, which she placed beside her, was collecting thick dusk and the pages were stained with milk.

Indeed, it was getting colder and colder. The blanket that John gave her was not enough to keep her feet warm so she sat up, hugged her knees and wrapped herself with the blanket.
Kerry woke up the next morning with another blue wool blanket over her and three egg sandwiches and two jars of milk. She wrapped herself closely with the two blankets and enjoyed the food. Kerry was as sure as the sun that John was behind all this. The only question she had was “why?”
Kerry felt beckoned to go over to John’s photo shop, she jumped up and crossed the street with two blankets wrapped around her shoulder. Kerry stepped carefully into the bright photo shop; she looked around like a child first time entering a candy shop. Instantly, she saw John standing there extending his hand to greet her. “Hello”, John said. “Hi”, Kerry said. Kerry stared at him intently and tears welled up in her eyes, she asked “Why? Why are you so persistent to help me? Why do you like to help people so much? Why can’t you just give them a chance to survive on their own?” John chuckled and answered, “I want to be your friend. We cannot survive out there completely on our own. We are all humans no matter how wilful we are. I know days can go by so slowly when we are all alone. Don’t you think so? Our view of world becomes dark and depress.” John took a brand name camera off the shelf and gave it to Kerry. “Take this, I saw you sketching and I thought you should try taking pictures. It’s quite the same,” said John.
Kerry turned from John to face the large window, held up the camera and scanned the street through the camera lens, it was a gloomy day, and many people passing by looked distress and some Kerry just couldn’t read. She wondered how many of those people were like her, facing the world all alone because their friends and families left them. She stood there staring at each of their expression and smiled as if Kerry got the answer to a physics question.
“I want to show you something, wait here,” Kerry said turning around. She came back and gave the sketchbook to John. “When I’m done with this sketchbook, it will belong to you. I want you to keep it. Thank you for offering your friendship just when I almost wanted to give up.” John opened it and was in awed by the pages and pages of sketches of Kerry’s life on the street. “Hey, that’s me,” exclaimed, John. “Yeah, that’s you,” laughed, Kerry.

Few weeks later, John helped Kerry found a job at a supermarket and helped her pay for the hotel costs until she could stand financially on her own.
It didn’t take long before John and Kerry became best friend. As Kerry flipped through her sketchbook, she remembered vividly the dark days she had on the street. There were still 10 pages left, she would continue to fill the pages with memories, except, this time, she would add photos to capture life’s every moment.

Five years later, a blown up family sketch and a super size family photo of four were posted on the window of the photo shop. Beside it, in big black letters, it said $10.00 family sketch or family sketch package. In the photo and the sketch, John and Kerry were smiling at each other lovingly and their two sons looked up beaming at them.