Drawing from the Finer Details of Character

The evening offered little to do as rain pounded the Houston suburb of Friendswood, Texas. Calhoun Mane sat on the screened porch with a sketchpad and a pencil, drawing a caricature of Michael Jordan. The dim porch light made it hard to see the lines as he spun the pad to apply each line perfectly. He drew the head large enough to capture the basketball legend’s details, but he kept the body one-third the size of the head to fit the rest of the page. He had drawn characters from cereal boxes and cartoons since childhood.

Georgette Beasley had entertained her sons, Chris and Jon, over the weekend, and Calhoun tagged along for some wholesome fun. The group ate southern-themed meals like red beans and rice, hung out in a hot tub, and talked about their lives. When Jon jokingly snatched and tore the drawing in two, Calhoun became so angry. Jon argued it was nothing more than a doodle with no real value. The two young men started a shoving match that quickly escalated into blows. Georgette jumped between her son and Calhoun to stop them from continuing such foolishness.

Georgette screamed, “Would you boys start acting your age? Jon — Why would you do such a stupid thing? I liked Calhoun’s drawing.”

Jon argued that Calhoun could easily draw another, identical to the first. Georgette then slapped her son upside the head and scolded him for acting so insensitively toward a friend.

He then said, “Calhoun knows I’m playing around and doesn’t care about some silly doodle. He draws things like this one all the time. Watch! Do another drawing, Cal.”

Calhoun grabbed the pad and sat down at the table again. This time, he quickly sketched Jon tearing the drawing, with Georgette behind him holding a huge paddle for a whooping. The expression on the caricatured face made Jon look like a crybaby. After he spun the drawing around and shared it with everyone at the table, Georgette, Chris, and Calhoun laughed. Jon pouted and retreated into the house to escape the embarrassment for the rest of the evening.