Written by: Leileah

Arjun was frustrated.

The kind of frustrated where all he wanted to do was slam his hand into something. Repeatedly.

He didn’t. Mostly because it wouldn’t help him feel better. Nothing would right now.

“Join the family business” he muttered under his breath, mimicking his father’s clipped tones. “It’s time you stopped playing with colour pencils and making those pictures of naked girls.”

Kuykendall: Tarot of the Cat People

They weren’t just colour pencils. They were pencils. Graphite sticks, charcoal pencils, sketching pencils. HB pencils. Other pencils. Pencils upon pencils.

Also, he didn’t just draw pictures of naked girls.

Arjun drew people. Young, old, thin, muscular, tall, short, men, women, clothed, unclothed. Pretty much everyone.

Yes, on occasion he did nudes, but that was art, wasn’t it?

Kuykendall: Tarot of the Cat People

“You need to do something productive. Ok fine, maybe you don’t want to work for me. What about becoming a banker? Or a doctor? Or an architect? Those are all good, well-paying jobs.”

Growling, Arjun threw himself facedown onto his bed, crumpling his covers within his fist as if that very act would prevent his father’s voice from invading his head.

“Who will marry you if you don’t have a decent job? You do know that is the first thing they ask. What does the boy do? What is his salary?”

He didn’t want to marry just yet. It wasn’t that he was never going marry. There was just so much that he wanted to do first.

Travel. Learn. Make art. Meet people. Most of all, understand himself.

Instead, here he was. Stuck in this house, under his father’s roof in a situation that showed no signs of changing.

Perhaps someone would buy his art. Just one piece. Even a little one. That would be the start. He would sell another, and another, and another and then….

One day, he would be famous.

_________________________________

Written by: Leileah