Unconventional

Chapter 1

Alizarin Crimson mixed with a dab of Pthalo Blue makes a weird kind of purplish-brownish color. No! That won't do! Try again. Charlie picked up one tube of acrylic paint that looked slightly bluer than before and squeezed out what looked like a line of tooth paste. Then he picked up a second tube of brighter red and oozed that onto his palette next to the blue "toothpaste" and tried again.

With each brush stroke a new emotion overcame Charlie. "What're you painting now?" Charlie dipped his brush in cadmium blue and stroked the canvass.

"What does it look like I'm painting?" He retorted. Mike scratched his head and looked two different directions. "

Well, I think you're painting a lake." Charlie added some titanium white to his brush and gently stroked the canvass.

"Not just any lake, my friend. This is where I want to go when school's out." Mike grabbed an open can of cola.

"I'm afraid that won't be for a while, Charlie." Charlie stopped painting and, for the first time, looked over at his bestfriend and roommate.

"You don't have to spoil the fun for me. I know that! Still, it would be nice. I mean just think of the azure sky—"

"Blue."

"The verdant grass —"

"Green."

Charlie glared at Mike. "Stop ruining my fun! If you're not going to let me dream, leave!"

Mike smiled slightly. "You know even though I believe in your full potential it isn't ideal to keep painting all day, every day."

"Hey, I actually don't mind listening to you ramble about tibiae and who-knows-what else. And I'm glad you believe in me. My family all thinks I'm the craziest one there is."

"That's the problem with going into something that's not normal."

"Are you saying Michelangelo wasn't normal?"

"Well..."

"And what about DaVinci? I'm sure a lot of people criticized him in his day, too. Neither one stopped their dreams."

"Yeah, but they still made money."

"Are you saying I'm going to be broke?! As long as you support me and help me, I'm sure I'll make a go of it soon!" Mike sighed, rolled his eyes, and took a long swig of his cola.

"Whatever, man; just don't forget there's plenty of other things you can do besides painting." With that Mike left the room and now it's Charlie's turn to sigh and shake his head.

A pyramid of cards and toothpicks stood precariously on the table." Along comes the truck —"

"NO! LISA! STOP!" Mel shouted. The cards and toothpicks collapsed onto the table and on top of the model flatbed.

"Well, at least now we can try what I suggested..."

"We are not using gum drops!"

"Why not?!" Lisa complained and plopped another gum drop into her mouth.

"What exactly do gum drops represent in the real world? And besides you're eating the props!"

"Then we can use pretzel rods and —" Mel glared at her bestfriend interrupting an otherwise crazy idea.

"You just want to use food so you can eat all the props and source material!"

"And what if I do?" Lisa tossed a grape and caught it in her mouth.

"Maybe I'd have been better off asking one of the guys to help..."Mel covered her eyes and shook her head in disbelief.

Lisa smiled sheepishly. "Grape?" she offered.

"Again, maybe I shouldn't be using food." Mel snatched the grape from Lisa. "Then again..." Mel popped the grape into her mouth. "It would be rather distasteful if I hadn't." Lisa smiled bigger. "Okay, food was a nice idea, but we're not making much progress with food materials."

"Then let's take time out and work on my project."

"YOUR PROJECT?! Your project is just baking —"

"Exactly! We're both hungry and my project is to learn how to bake a three-course meal..."

"I get it! Then we can come back on a full tummy and figure out how to make this mock-up neighborhood-bridge-thingy work."

 "Now you're getting it!" Mel grabbed a handful of cheese cubes and plopped them one at a time into her mouth. "So what's for dinner, Chef Lisa?" Mel joked after eating the last cube.