Page 55 of Light Up
Tal nodded as he carefully wet the paper. “Their eyes are gold in the bright light of the Arctic summer and turn blue in the low light of winter. Don’t put too much water on yours.”
“Arrggh.”
Tal reached over with a piece of kitchen towel and dabbed Corey’s paper. “Wait for it to dry.”
“Reindeer babies are called calves which is unusual for deer. They can run as fast as an Olympic sprinter within ninety seconds of being born. And they can run with the herd at fifty miles per hour within a couple of hours.”
“Concentrate. Listen to what you have to do.”
Corey tried, but it made no difference to the outcome. His painting was a blurry mess, a bit like a bad work by Turner where the artist had gone wrong and just painted mud in the rain with solitary poppy. Tal’s was…well… It was beautiful. The shading, the antlers. The blue eyes. The reindeer moss in the snow.
The tutor came up behind them. “Well done. Very good.”
“Thank you,” Corey said, though he knew he was talking to Tal. “I thought I’d done a pretty good job. It’s Rudolph in the rain, dear.”
“Oh, I… Er…” he stuttered. “Yes, the red nose. Less water next time.”
Tal was trying not to laugh.
Corey really wasn’t bothered that he had no skill in drawing or painting, he already suspected he hadn’t, but he was thrilled that Tal was so good.
“Is painting one of your hobbies?” Corey asked.
“No.”
“What! It should be. What do you do in your spare time?”
“Read. Listen to music. Run.”
Corey waited. “That’s all?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t stare at clouds?”
“Sometimes.”
“What do you read?”
“Scandinavian thrillers, courtroom dramas and most types of non-fiction. And I like learning dead languages in order to read works like Beowulf and Homer’s Iliad.”
“Of course you do. Say something to me in Old English.”
“Gæð a wyrd swa hio scel! Which meansfate will unwind as it must.”
“Wow. I am so impressed.”
“What about you?”
“I know how to swear in Spanish. There was a Spanish waiter in the last restaurant I worked at.”
Tal huffed. “Hobbies?”
“I play my guitar. I read a huge amount. Anything except for autobiographies. Something about them irritates me. I use the library or buy books in charity shops and then re-donate them. I know the author doesn’t benefit from that but the charity does. I’d be broke if I bought them anywhere else.”
Everyone was packing up to leave. Corey hadn’t intended to take his painting but Tal picked it up.
“Leave it. Its home is the bin.”
