You Will Be Found

Chapter Eight

It took a week before I was approached for any sort of work. It wasn't for any translating work, but a drawing for a client who loved my profile image. She had asked if I had taken video of me drawing my 'Little Birdy', and that gave me more ideas I could use to promote myself and make more money.

So when she commissioned for me to draw her a cutie little koi fish under a lotus flower, I was happy to oblige. I recorded it this time, outside during daylight hours. I wasn't happy with the image I'd created using the cheap colouring pencils, so I opened the little soy packet that came with the instant noodles from the hospital and diluting it down, I created another picture of a koi using a small chunk of hair wrapped around my broken pen. It was fiddly to use, and probably really stupid, but I had no money at all to buy anything else.

Even with the stupidity, the watercolour painting using soy sauce came out really well. I posted the video to my website and sent the client digital pictures of each of the images. I was really embarrassed when I had to ask her for payment for completion of the job before I could package them up carefully and send them to her. She seemed happy to do that. Moments later I received a text message from my bank with a deposit for forty dollars. Forty dollars. I grinned.

Now, that might not seem that much to some people. People often go to the snack shop down the road to easily spend that amount in one sitting. A trip to the movie theatre for two adults would cost at least that much. A home-care toiletry package. A couple of pairs of quality slippers... A 50 pack of 120gm noodles would also cost about that, if you shop around. That would leave me a little bit left over to take the bus to and from the large park nearby. Noodles and trip to the park. That is what I was planning on doing tomorrow.

I emailed her back saying I'd post the drawing and painting in the post the next day and went to bed happy.

The next day, after delivering the drawings to the post office and mailing them off, I spent the rest of my morning wondering about the small shopping centre nearby my home, window shopping. This is the first time in ages since I had any sort of money of my own. I didn't really know what to do with it. When I went past a 'dollar' store, selling cheap goods, I went in to look at watercolour sets or at least a real paint brush. They also had a really good deal on one-dollar boxes of cheap tea, so I picked up a box along with the two small paint brushes I wanted up to buy. I smiled at the shop clerk as I made my purchase, really happy to use my phone to pay out of my account. I think that was the first time ever.

I'd found money, coins and notes on the road before, knew how to be careful spending to make it last for months. But this was the first time I'd had money to spend from my account that I'd had it set up for me at the age of fourteen. Student ID cards come in really handy.

The bus didn't take long to arrive when I found the correct bus stop. I got off a few stops later and entered the large gates of a huge city park nearby my home. It was lovely. I used to love coming here as a child, watching all of the happy families and pretending that mine was waiting for me. It's been a while since I grew out of that phase of my life. It's been a while since I had come to this park as well.

Lunch was leftover noodles from breakfast. I had found a park bench that was free to sit on and ate, drank from my Thermos flask, and enjoyed the sunny day. Birds chirped nearby, kids ran towards the large playground in the centre of the park, and parents ran after them yelling at them to slow down. It was comforting to watch.

I pulled out my flask, a box of newly-purchased tea and my new paint brushes. The water was just warm enough to steep the tea into changing the water colour. I used it to draw another koi fish, much like the fish I'd just sent to my first ever client. After koi came another humming bird in browns and tan colours. I then remembered Sir Percival, the labradoodle Therapy Pet, and smiled as I changed to a clean page and began painting him from memory.

I could just hear him whining at me, declaring he was innocent of any and all wrong doing after getting me into trouble. Then I really did hear the scoundrel doggy, along with an excited bark. I looked up just in time to see the precocious doggy trotting straight for my bench seat. He didn't stop until he had both of his front paws up on either side of my knees and his snout right up in my face, asking for a kiss. Then, when I didn't unfreeze from surprise fast enough, he tried to climb up into my lap, right on top of the art book I was painting on.

"Sir Percival!" I called excitedly, as I put my things aside. He danced on his hind legs, his tail wagging happily while his front paws were still on the seat. His owner, the Therapy Pet person from the hospital arrived shortly after and pulled the happy dog down.

"Sorry, Miss. I apologise for my dog's behaviour. He's not normally like this. He's actually a fully trained Therapy Pet that we use in the children's hospital to help kids there on their recovery to health." I waved the older guy away and ruffled Sir Percival's curly hair on his head.

"It's OK, isn't it, Mr Fluffle?" I asked the dog. He whined at me, begging me not to call him that. "Well don't go about pouncing on people. You might scare someone. You're not secretly a cat are you?" I asked. He didn't like that. His ears stood up to a peak and his fluffy body froze for a moment, then he got off the bench seat and buried his gorgeous doggy face under his front paws again. A grumbling complaint could be heard.

"Oh, you're the young girl from the hospital! We've met you before. Hello there." The doggy owner only recognised me after Sir Percival started hiding under his paws again.

"Hello." I whispered to him with a little smile.

"I'm Grant. Nice to meet you." He replied to my greeting, then turned to Sir Percival and admonished the dog for the next few minutes not to run away like that again, scaring kids, upsetting the native bird life. Then when Sir Percival didn't move from his butt-up-in-the-air stance, he laughed. He turned to blink at me then teased the dog about showing off his big butt. I laughed when Sir Percival sat straight down as if to hide his doggy bottom. He waved a paw at me, which I caught, then proceeded to shake, giving him praise.

"Oh, you're a good boy, aren't you. A good boy. I bet you've been looking after all of the boys and girls at the hospital, carrying out your job perfectly." Sir Percival barked. "And you've been treating the nursing staff well?" Another bark. "What about Mr Grant, here? Have you been obedient, taking your doggy supplements and letting him brush your beautiful white teeth?" He barked again, then grinned at me with his teeth together. "Good boy. A kiss reward. Mwah!" I gave him a noisy kiss on his doggy nose and he fell over and played dead.

I couldn't help laughing.