Eye of the Beholder
Saturday, September 14, 1991
8:30 AM
“A big girl bed?” Lee repeated as together they went up the stairs. “You really think she’s ready for that?”
“Why not?” Amanda replied. “Jamie was the same age when mother and I took him to get his first bed.” She smiled. “You know I can still remember how excited he was. He told everyone within earshot that he was a ‘big boy’ now.”
“But are you sure she’s ready?”
Amanda paused at the top of the stairs, looking at him. “She’s nearly three, Lee—she’s ready.”
Nearly three. Lee shook his head reflexively. Where had all the time gone? Hadn’t it been only yesterday that he’d been burping and changing her? They went down the hall towards Jenna’s bedroom.
“And besides,” Amanda added. “We don’t want to risk any accidents if she decides to try and climb out of her crib again.”
“I’m telling you—she wouldn’t do that.” Lee pushed open the door to Jenna’s bedroom. “We had a talk about it. She knows she could get hurt—” his voice faded as he saw the small figure curled on the carpet.
“Munchkin?” As Lee drew closer he could see red streaks covering her arms and legs. Blood? For one moment his heart nearly stopped. She was fine, though. Kneeling beside Jenna he could see that she was sleeping peacefully, blanket in hand and her thumb stuck in her mouth. One tousled lock fell over into her eyes; gently he pushed it back.
“Lee?”
“She’s fine,” Lee could hear the relief in his own voice. “Just sleeping.” But the marks on her skin—not just red marks, but blue, purple, brown—even yellow. What on earth could’ve caused those? Then he spotted the evidence. It lay nearby, discarded on the carpet.
A magic marker—a red magic marker. He picked it up, looking at it. Crayola—hopefully washable. The markers and their accompanying lids were scattered all over the floor. Dotty had bought Jenna these markers just last week.
“Oh Jenna,” Lee ran one hand back through his hair. What on earth had possessed her to climb out of her crib and draw all over herself?
“Lee,” Amanda’s voice made him look up. His wife stood there, her back to him, staring fixedly at the opposite wall.
“Come and take a look at this,” she told him.
Lee left Jenna and rose to his feet. As he drew closer he could see what had arrested Amanda’s attention.
Jenna hadn’t just restricted her artwork to her body—she had transferred it to the walls as well. The brightly colored scrawls ran from one end of the wall to the next. At first glance it looked completely random—the usual stuff she did whenever you gave her a blank piece of paper.
But then Lee peered more closely.
Weren’t those—weren’t those heads? Heads with arms and legs attached? The circles weren’t complete of course, but the more he looked at them the more it seemed—
“Amanda, I think she’s drawn people.” He pointed. “Look, you see that?”
Amanda’s eyes followed his finger. “Yeah,” she said slowly. “I think you’re right. These are all people.”
“Well, what people would look like if they were just giant walking heads.”
Amanda chuckled. “That’s the same way that Phillip used to draw at that age. Two year olds don’t have a real good sense of what their body looks like.”
“She drew all up and down the wall,” Lee said as he looked at his daughter’s mural. “I wonder who they’re all supposed to be.”
“Daddy? Mommy? What doin’? ”
Lee turned around to see Jenna sitting up, her tiny hands rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Even her face hadn’t escaped the art frenzy—she had drawn blue streaks across each cheek and placed a single purple dot firmly on the tip of her nose.
‘Please—’ he prayed silently. ‘Please let that stuff be washable.’
“Come here, munchkin,” Lee told her. Jenna pushed herself off the floor and stood, her blanket dragging behind her. “Can you tell us about this?”
“Oh—I dwew—I dwaw dis,” Jenna said, pushing her hair from her eyes as she looked at the wall, tiny fingers tracing the lines she’d made.
“We can see, sweetheart,” Amanda said. “Want to tell us about what you drew?”
“ ‘kay—um—” walking over to one end of her masterpiece Jenna pointed to a large brown circle—the largest on the wall. It was nearly a full circle—two little circles for eyes, a smiley mouth and a brown squiggle on top.
“ Dis is Daddy,” Jenna announced.
“That’s me?” Lee asked her.
“Yeah,” Jenna nodded solemnly—dark eyes looking up at him. “Dat you—Daddy’s big, wight?”
“Yes,” Amanda said. “Your daddy is a big fella.” Lee shot his wife a glance.
“Very funny.” As he bent over to Jenna’s level, Lee pointed to a small grey blob beside him. “What’s this supposed to be, munchkin?”
“Daddy’s ‘Vette.”
“Hmm…” Lee rubbed his jaw as he pretended to consider. “Well you know, I might have a little trouble fitting into that car. I might be too big.”
“Dat ‘kay,” Jenna gave a little shrug. “We ‘quish you.”
“You’ll squish me?” Lee asked, trying hard to keep a straight face. “You squish Daddy?”
“Uh-huh,” Jenna replied.
“What about Mommy?”
“We ‘quish Mommy too.” From above him he heard Amanda chuckling softly.
“I see,” Lee said. “But munchkin—how do we drive if we’re squished?”
“Siddy Daddy—I dwive.”
“You drive? Oh—I see,” Dad said. “And do we squish you into the car too? Huh? Squish Jenna?” He briefly tickled his daughter’s tummy and she squealed with laughter.
“No, Daddy—I little—see?” She pointed to the little circle close to his—a purple circle with a yellow blob for hair. “Dat me.”
“Yes—that’s definitely you.” Lee noticed the way she’d drawn herself with her arms up, one of her hands touching his, and the other hand touching—
“Is that Mommy?” he asked her, pointing to the brown circle on the other side of Jenna.
“Yeah,” Jenna said. “Mommy have pretty hair, see?”
“That’s true,” Lee said. “Your Mommy has very pretty hair. Who are all the rest of these people?”
“Well, dat ‘Ma,” Jenna pointed to a yellow circle, using her word for Grandma. “And Jamie—I dwaw him gasses—” Part of Lee wanted to ask why Jamie was a blue circle with blue hair and red glasses but he guessed that she’d probably worn out the other colors. Besides, he was enjoying this narrative—he really didn’t want to interrupt it. “Dat Pillip with fooball—” Jenna continued, pointing to a purple circle carrying a purple blob in his stick arms. “See? And dis Bee, and dis Fwanceen.”
“Sweetheart, why does Francine have another yellow circle on her head?” Amanda asked.
“Oh,” Jenna looked. “Dats her hair.” At that point Lee had to laugh out loud—he wondered what Francine would think of Jenna’s depiction.
“Lee—can you come over here for just a second?” Amanda asked. “Jenna, Daddy and I are just going over here in the corner to talk. Why don’t you pick the markers up and put them away. Okay? ”
“I do it!” Jenna replied cheerfully.
“Amanda, I know what you’re going to say,” Lee kept his voice low. “But it’s a really cute drawing. Couldn’t we just leave it—just once?”
“We can’t,” Amanda said. “She’s not supposed to draw on her walls—that’s a rule. We have to paint over it. If we let her keep it that way she won’t have learned her lesson.”
“But if it’s just in her room—”
“And what if she decides to take her artwork to other parts of the house? What then? Lee, you know I’m right.”
He did know it. Lee drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Okay—let’s tell her. Munchkin?” He raised his voice. “Come over here—we need to talk to you. Put the markers down and come here.”
“‘Kay Daddy.” Jenna put the markers in her toy box and walked over. Amanda knelt beside the toddler, taking her hands.
“Sweetheart,” she began. “These are some really pretty drawings. But you know that you’re only supposed to draw on paper. You are not allowed to draw on the walls.”
“I dwaw on me?” Jenna asked, as she held her arms out, inspecting them.
“No drawing on you,” Amanda told her. “Just paper.”
“I dwaw paper?” Jenna repeated.
“That’s right,” Lee added. “Just paper. No more walls, munchkin. You promise?”
Jenna gave a small sigh. “I pwomise.”
“Good girl.” Amanda hugged her. “Hey, guess what?”
“What?” Jenna asked.
“Daddy and I are going to take you to get a big girl bed today—you’re getting way too big for your crib.”
Jenna’s dark eyes widened. “Big girl bed?”
“That’s right,” Lee said, thinking fast. “And then we can get you some really pretty paint for your walls—any color you want.” Any color—he might regret saying that later. Before anything was done, though, he was going to bring the video camera up here—record his daughter’s artwork for posterity.
“Hey.” A tiny hand tugged at his own—Lee looked down into Jenna’s face.
“I help you paint?” she asked.
“Sure,” Amanda said. “You can help Daddy paint. Come on, sweetheart,” she lifted the two year old into her arms. “Let’s get you into a bath and then get you dressed. We’ll go to the store right after breakfast.”
“’Kay,” Jenna replied. “I dwive?”
The End
Story Notes:
*The usual disclaimers apply. Thanks to Annette for the idea and to Cheryl and Jan for the brainstorming help. Hope you enjoy :) *