in which derry draws for his dinner
i think i've eaten about half a box of girl scout cookies (lemon-frosted shortbread) today. my boss brought them in yesterday - one box of those, two boxes of regular shortbread, and two boxes of peanutbutter sandwich cookies. and as i am alone in the office today, there's no one else to blame for the missing lemon-frosted. i am weak in the face of girl scout cookies. weak, i tell you. *sigh*
to make up for it i'm going to have another one, have some more derry. he doesn't have the death flu this time. :D
It's spring, or close enough, and Derry and Will and their friend Rhodi are sitting on the sidewalk down by the university. Well, Derry and Will are sitting; Rhodi, who by her own reckoning has been awake for fifty-three hours straight and wants nothing more than to sleep until she recovers, is curled up on the pavement with her head on Derry's knee.
Derry props his sketchbook against his other knee so he can draw people and practice Celtic knots and spirals and stylized animals.
"I think I need some graph paper," he says, mostly to himself.
"Are you gonna steal that too?" Will asks, grinning. Derry shrugs. "That's never not gonna be funny."
"I needed paper."
Will just snickers. Derry knows Will thinks it's weird that he steals sketchbooks and notebooks and pens, and not anything useful. Will doesn't get that all that paper is useful. It gives Derry something to do, something he's good at, something he likes. He's not a hustler, and he has to do something with his time.
Will has a sign - "Homeless and Hungry, please Help" - but so far all it's gotten them is a couple of quarters and a crumpled dollar bill. He tries to look pathetic, which just makes Derry want to kiss him on the forehead, and eventually mutters "Too bad you don't have a bunch of pictures we could spread out and sell. That'd be helpful."
Derry flips his sketchbook closed, digs a red Sharpie out of his bag, and writes "Portraits $2" on the back of the sketchbook. He props it up on the sidewalk like a restaurant table tent, with the sign facing out.
"There," he says to Will, pleased with himself.
"Huh," Will says. Derry grins.
"Sometimes I have the good ideas."
Now that he's lost his paper, he entertains himself by drawing vines and leaves on Will's jeans. It's a little awkward because he doesn't want to dislodge Rhodi from his knee, but he manages.
"That's pretty good," Will comments. Then he looks up, past Derry's shoulder, and says "Yeah?" to someone.
"What's 'Portraits, two bucks?'" asks an unfamiliar voice, and now Derry looks up too. The voice belongs to a girl who looks about college age, maybe a little older, wearing black tights, a black pleated skirt, and a green jacket. Her hair is light brown and pulled back in a braid.
"Just what it says," Will tells her. "Derry draws you, you give him two bucks."
"How good are you?" she asks Derry. Will snaps the sketchbook shut and hands it up to her. She flips through it, hands it back, and says "Ok. What do you want me to do?"
"Smile?" Derry suggests. "Stand still. I dunno. I need to find a pencil."
"What's your name?" Will asks.
"Julianne," she says.
While Derry is looking through his bag, she drops down onto the sidewalk, arranges her skirt over her crossed legs, and smiles at him. He finds a clean page in his sketchbook and draws her picture.
It takes him about twenty minutes, because he wants it to look good but he doesn't want to spend an hour on it, and when he's done he writes her name on the portrait, rips out the page, and gives it to her.
"That's really good," she says. "That's five dollars, at least."
Derry starts to protest but Will jabs him in the arm.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Will says, as the girl hands over a five and stands up. "You have a nice day."
"Thanks," she says, and walks away.
"Couple more of her and we can actually sit down for dinner," Will muses. Derry takes the five from him and stuffs it in his pocket. "Hey!"
"It's my money. I'll share it, don't worry." He leans over and kisses Will on the mouth. Will puts his hand on Derry's thigh and leans into the kiss. Derry eventually and reluctantly pulls away, and when Will pouts he says "Public place, art to sell. You know how it is." Will makes a conciliatory but slightly annoyed face and peers around Derry to where Rhodi is still asleep on his leg.
"She's gonna be annoyed she slept through the good stuff."
"So we'll have to kiss in front of her when she's awake." Derry grins as he props up his sketchbook to display the sign again.
He draws a little girl and her father, who looks young enough to be her brother. He draws a Korean girl kissing her swim-team (he's wearing a team jacket) boyfriend on the cheek. He draws an albino ferret hanging over the shoulder of a girl with a shaved head. He draws two boys who remind him of drama geeks from his high school. He draws a middle-aged woman and her middle-aged terrier.
He's in the middle of drawing a pregnant girl at the request of her girlfriend when Rhodi wakes up. Will holds out two bills and asks her to get him a coffee and a Snickers. She says no, she's tired. He tries to look pathetic.
"Go get it yourself," says the pregnant girl's girlfriend. The pregnant girl blushes, apparently embarrassed.
"Yeah, go get it yourself," Rhodi repeats, and yawns. Will snorts, but he gets up and goes to get his own coffee.
"Feel better?" Derry asks her. She shrugs.
"Couple hours down, about thirty to go. I'm too tired to be hungry. What are you doing?"
"Drawing people."
"How's it going?" asks the girlfriend.
"I'm almost done."
"You look familiar," Rhodi tells the pregnant girl. "What's your name?"
"Shana," she says. "This is Peg."
"And this is Mikhail," the girlfriend - Peg - says, splaying her hands across Shana's belly.
"How do you spell that?" Derry asks, and after Peg spells it for him he writes "Shana (and Mikhail)" on her picture.
He gets four dollars for that one. Rhodi decides she doesn't know Shana, but probably knows someone who looks like her, and she really needs to sleep somewhere that isn't the sidewalk.
"Done enough of that," she says through a yawn. She puts her head on Derry's shoulder. "How much did you make?"
"I got twenty bucks. Will took two. So twenty-two total."
"That's pretty good. You can go out for dinner. Just about."
"We'll get a pizza or something. Wanna come?"
"No, I gotta find a place to sleep." She yawns again. "I'll call Petula. I should really go back to Steph's."
Rhodi is ostensibly living with her sister Stephanie to help take care of Stephanie's son, since Stephanie's husband is a long-haul trucker and not home very often. Rhodi and her sister do not always get along. Derry has only met Stephanie once, but she seemed nice enough.
Will comes back with his coffee and Snickers. He doesn't bother to sit, just stands on the sidewalk in front of Derry.
"How much we got?" he asks.
"I have twenty bucks," Derry says. "We can eat and have money left over."
"Which we will spend on beer so Mike will let us crash at his place." Will grins like that's the smartest idea either of them has had all day. Derry likes Mike, and Mike doesn't mind letting the two of them sleep on his floor, especially if they come bearing beer. And most importantly, Mike doesn't mind if they have sex, as long as they wait until he and his roommates have gone to bed and they don't leave their condoms lying around.
Derry is really looking forward to getting laid.
"I think we should give it another half hour," Derry says. "Sit down. Maybe I'll get someone else."
Will sits. Rhodi repositions herself so Derry can draw. Will finishes his coffee. Derry draws uneven Celtic knots on the back of Will's homeless sign. Three girls who look about twelve show up and want their pictures drawn separately, except one of them wants all three of them in one picture, and when fifteen minutes have passed and they're still describing to Derry what they want him to draw, Will snaps at them to make up their fucking minds already, he's hungry and they're starting to piss him off. They look shocked and Derry smacks Will on the back of the head.
"Don't listen to him," Derry tells the girls. "Is one picture of all of you ok? My hand's getting tired."
To make up for Will being an ass and for only drawing one picture, Derry takes his time and makes the girls look good and a little older. They seem pleased with their portrait, even though they run off as soon as he takes their money, like they can't wait to get away from him.
"Jesus Christ," Will mutters.
"You didn't have to bitch them out," Derry says, stuffing his sketchbook back in his bag. "Twenty-two bucks. Let's go eat." He stands up and offers Rhodi a hand.
"What about me?" Will whines.
"What about you? I'm buying you dinner."
"I don't get a hand up?"
"You're a big boy," Rhodi says.
"You're a big girl."
Rhodi snickers. She is in fact just under five feet tall and might weigh a hundred pounds fully dressed and soaking wet.
"You sure you don't wanna come eat with us?" Derry asks her. She shakes her head.
"I'm gonna call Petula and see if I can crash on her couch for a little bit, and then I'll call my sister and let her know where I am. I just can't get enough sleep at her house."
"You could always eat the nephew," Will suggests, grinning. Derry rolls his eyes.
"Come on," he says, "or I'm gonna go eat without you."
"Yeah yeah. Then you won't get fucked good and hard tonight."
"Neither will you." Now it's Derry's turn to grin.
"I'm going," Rhodi says. "Talk to you later?"
"Sure. Say hi to Petula."
Derry gives Rhodi a kiss on the cheek and waves to her as she walks away. Will is still sitting on the sidewalk.
"Hello?" he says.
"Hey," Derry answers.
"A little help?"
"Oh, ok." Derry holds out his hand and pulls Will up. "Pizza?"
"Pizza. Then beer. Got condoms?"
"I always got condoms."
"Cool. Pizza, beer, fucking. Breadsticks. Sound good?"
"The best."
to make up for it i'm going to have another one, have some more derry. he doesn't have the death flu this time. :D
It's spring, or close enough, and Derry and Will and their friend Rhodi are sitting on the sidewalk down by the university. Well, Derry and Will are sitting; Rhodi, who by her own reckoning has been awake for fifty-three hours straight and wants nothing more than to sleep until she recovers, is curled up on the pavement with her head on Derry's knee.
Derry props his sketchbook against his other knee so he can draw people and practice Celtic knots and spirals and stylized animals.
"I think I need some graph paper," he says, mostly to himself.
"Are you gonna steal that too?" Will asks, grinning. Derry shrugs. "That's never not gonna be funny."
"I needed paper."
Will just snickers. Derry knows Will thinks it's weird that he steals sketchbooks and notebooks and pens, and not anything useful. Will doesn't get that all that paper is useful. It gives Derry something to do, something he's good at, something he likes. He's not a hustler, and he has to do something with his time.
Will has a sign - "Homeless and Hungry, please Help" - but so far all it's gotten them is a couple of quarters and a crumpled dollar bill. He tries to look pathetic, which just makes Derry want to kiss him on the forehead, and eventually mutters "Too bad you don't have a bunch of pictures we could spread out and sell. That'd be helpful."
Derry flips his sketchbook closed, digs a red Sharpie out of his bag, and writes "Portraits $2" on the back of the sketchbook. He props it up on the sidewalk like a restaurant table tent, with the sign facing out.
"There," he says to Will, pleased with himself.
"Huh," Will says. Derry grins.
"Sometimes I have the good ideas."
Now that he's lost his paper, he entertains himself by drawing vines and leaves on Will's jeans. It's a little awkward because he doesn't want to dislodge Rhodi from his knee, but he manages.
"That's pretty good," Will comments. Then he looks up, past Derry's shoulder, and says "Yeah?" to someone.
"What's 'Portraits, two bucks?'" asks an unfamiliar voice, and now Derry looks up too. The voice belongs to a girl who looks about college age, maybe a little older, wearing black tights, a black pleated skirt, and a green jacket. Her hair is light brown and pulled back in a braid.
"Just what it says," Will tells her. "Derry draws you, you give him two bucks."
"How good are you?" she asks Derry. Will snaps the sketchbook shut and hands it up to her. She flips through it, hands it back, and says "Ok. What do you want me to do?"
"Smile?" Derry suggests. "Stand still. I dunno. I need to find a pencil."
"What's your name?" Will asks.
"Julianne," she says.
While Derry is looking through his bag, she drops down onto the sidewalk, arranges her skirt over her crossed legs, and smiles at him. He finds a clean page in his sketchbook and draws her picture.
It takes him about twenty minutes, because he wants it to look good but he doesn't want to spend an hour on it, and when he's done he writes her name on the portrait, rips out the page, and gives it to her.
"That's really good," she says. "That's five dollars, at least."
Derry starts to protest but Will jabs him in the arm.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Will says, as the girl hands over a five and stands up. "You have a nice day."
"Thanks," she says, and walks away.
"Couple more of her and we can actually sit down for dinner," Will muses. Derry takes the five from him and stuffs it in his pocket. "Hey!"
"It's my money. I'll share it, don't worry." He leans over and kisses Will on the mouth. Will puts his hand on Derry's thigh and leans into the kiss. Derry eventually and reluctantly pulls away, and when Will pouts he says "Public place, art to sell. You know how it is." Will makes a conciliatory but slightly annoyed face and peers around Derry to where Rhodi is still asleep on his leg.
"She's gonna be annoyed she slept through the good stuff."
"So we'll have to kiss in front of her when she's awake." Derry grins as he props up his sketchbook to display the sign again.
He draws a little girl and her father, who looks young enough to be her brother. He draws a Korean girl kissing her swim-team (he's wearing a team jacket) boyfriend on the cheek. He draws an albino ferret hanging over the shoulder of a girl with a shaved head. He draws two boys who remind him of drama geeks from his high school. He draws a middle-aged woman and her middle-aged terrier.
He's in the middle of drawing a pregnant girl at the request of her girlfriend when Rhodi wakes up. Will holds out two bills and asks her to get him a coffee and a Snickers. She says no, she's tired. He tries to look pathetic.
"Go get it yourself," says the pregnant girl's girlfriend. The pregnant girl blushes, apparently embarrassed.
"Yeah, go get it yourself," Rhodi repeats, and yawns. Will snorts, but he gets up and goes to get his own coffee.
"Feel better?" Derry asks her. She shrugs.
"Couple hours down, about thirty to go. I'm too tired to be hungry. What are you doing?"
"Drawing people."
"How's it going?" asks the girlfriend.
"I'm almost done."
"You look familiar," Rhodi tells the pregnant girl. "What's your name?"
"Shana," she says. "This is Peg."
"And this is Mikhail," the girlfriend - Peg - says, splaying her hands across Shana's belly.
"How do you spell that?" Derry asks, and after Peg spells it for him he writes "Shana (and Mikhail)" on her picture.
He gets four dollars for that one. Rhodi decides she doesn't know Shana, but probably knows someone who looks like her, and she really needs to sleep somewhere that isn't the sidewalk.
"Done enough of that," she says through a yawn. She puts her head on Derry's shoulder. "How much did you make?"
"I got twenty bucks. Will took two. So twenty-two total."
"That's pretty good. You can go out for dinner. Just about."
"We'll get a pizza or something. Wanna come?"
"No, I gotta find a place to sleep." She yawns again. "I'll call Petula. I should really go back to Steph's."
Rhodi is ostensibly living with her sister Stephanie to help take care of Stephanie's son, since Stephanie's husband is a long-haul trucker and not home very often. Rhodi and her sister do not always get along. Derry has only met Stephanie once, but she seemed nice enough.
Will comes back with his coffee and Snickers. He doesn't bother to sit, just stands on the sidewalk in front of Derry.
"How much we got?" he asks.
"I have twenty bucks," Derry says. "We can eat and have money left over."
"Which we will spend on beer so Mike will let us crash at his place." Will grins like that's the smartest idea either of them has had all day. Derry likes Mike, and Mike doesn't mind letting the two of them sleep on his floor, especially if they come bearing beer. And most importantly, Mike doesn't mind if they have sex, as long as they wait until he and his roommates have gone to bed and they don't leave their condoms lying around.
Derry is really looking forward to getting laid.
"I think we should give it another half hour," Derry says. "Sit down. Maybe I'll get someone else."
Will sits. Rhodi repositions herself so Derry can draw. Will finishes his coffee. Derry draws uneven Celtic knots on the back of Will's homeless sign. Three girls who look about twelve show up and want their pictures drawn separately, except one of them wants all three of them in one picture, and when fifteen minutes have passed and they're still describing to Derry what they want him to draw, Will snaps at them to make up their fucking minds already, he's hungry and they're starting to piss him off. They look shocked and Derry smacks Will on the back of the head.
"Don't listen to him," Derry tells the girls. "Is one picture of all of you ok? My hand's getting tired."
To make up for Will being an ass and for only drawing one picture, Derry takes his time and makes the girls look good and a little older. They seem pleased with their portrait, even though they run off as soon as he takes their money, like they can't wait to get away from him.
"Jesus Christ," Will mutters.
"You didn't have to bitch them out," Derry says, stuffing his sketchbook back in his bag. "Twenty-two bucks. Let's go eat." He stands up and offers Rhodi a hand.
"What about me?" Will whines.
"What about you? I'm buying you dinner."
"I don't get a hand up?"
"You're a big boy," Rhodi says.
"You're a big girl."
Rhodi snickers. She is in fact just under five feet tall and might weigh a hundred pounds fully dressed and soaking wet.
"You sure you don't wanna come eat with us?" Derry asks her. She shakes her head.
"I'm gonna call Petula and see if I can crash on her couch for a little bit, and then I'll call my sister and let her know where I am. I just can't get enough sleep at her house."
"You could always eat the nephew," Will suggests, grinning. Derry rolls his eyes.
"Come on," he says, "or I'm gonna go eat without you."
"Yeah yeah. Then you won't get fucked good and hard tonight."
"Neither will you." Now it's Derry's turn to grin.
"I'm going," Rhodi says. "Talk to you later?"
"Sure. Say hi to Petula."
Derry gives Rhodi a kiss on the cheek and waves to her as she walks away. Will is still sitting on the sidewalk.
"Hello?" he says.
"Hey," Derry answers.
"A little help?"
"Oh, ok." Derry holds out his hand and pulls Will up. "Pizza?"
"Pizza. Then beer. Got condoms?"
"I always got condoms."
"Cool. Pizza, beer, fucking. Breadsticks. Sound good?"
"The best."