Written by Megan Hanlon
In the bright summer sun, my 10-year-old sits next to a dozen monsters – a purple one with long,
stringy limbs below saucer eyes, a chubby blue one sporting a gold crown and a drop of drool
hanging on a gaping mouth, an orange one like a smooth alligator with saw-blade teeth.
Together they comprise a booth of sorts on the tailgate of the truck parked in our driveway. He’s
peddling artwork of his favorite video game characters, so confident is he that others will love
these creatures—and his rendering of them—as much as he does.
I watch from the shadows behind the dining room window. “Free drawings!” he calls out to
people and cars as they pass.
Three boys walk by, all around his size but strutting in a way they hope makes them look older.
They exchange glances then decline, and snicker to one another as they reach the neighbor’s
house.
Two teenage girls on gleaming bicycles glide in front of him. “Free drawings!”
They say no thanks with mild pity on their faces, and carry on to the neighborhood pool to meet
friends.
“Freeee draaaw-innnngs!” he cries.
Yesterday they were one dollar each.
A middle-aged woman jogs past on the street, ear buds firmly planted in the fertile ground of her
head, yet she ignores him as though he’s not real.
Still he calls out, same as yesterday, same as he will tomorrow.
All I can picture is his immense sadness when, someday soon, he realizes how little the world
cares about most people.
The disappointment will devour him like a monster. I will rush to beat it back, and remind him of
his worth.
.
Megan Hanlon is a podcast producer who sometimes writes. Her words have appeared in more than a dozen literary magazines and a handful of print publications. Her blog, Sugar Pig, is known for relentlessly honest essays that are equal parts tragedy and comedy.