Sputnik's Children by Terri Favro

Author:Terri Favro
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2017-04-10T16:00:00+00:00

After our time together in Postapocalyptica, Kendal and I adjusted our clothes, crawled out of the wrecked store and went our separate ways with a kiss, Kendal to look for odd jobs in the half-assed businesses on Z Street, me to cover pages with monstrous half-men, half-animals and ravished, bosomy, wasp-waisted, bug-eyed women with laced corsets and wild tendrils of hair. I’d never stopped drawing, really, but the Famous Artists Correspondence School ad in the backs of my comic books had given me a new sense of urgency.

“We’re looking for people who like to draw,” the self-portrait of Norman Rockwell assured me, his penciled-in eyes looking kind. “Send away for our free no-obligation Talent Test Booklet and find out if you have hidden talent. Then get ready for a future in the lucrative and creative fields of cartooning, fashion illustration, graphic design, commercial art, still life, children’s portraits . . .”

I filled out the coupon in neat block letters, shortening my first and middle name to initials so they wouldn’t know I was a girl, found an envelope and stamp and walked to the mailbox, buoyed by twin senses of destiny and defeat. Maybe a famous artist was what I was meant to be. On the other hand, was there even a future to get ready for?

As I dropped my envelope into the mailbox, I noticed a sign on a telephone pole reading, PICKERS WANTED: 6 A.M. PICK-UP HERE.

Strawberry harvest had begun. It was time to close my sketchbooks and make some money. Sparkling Sparrow Wines wouldn’t need farmhands until the late August harvest; it was strawberries or nothing.

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