Leaving a Spark

----1923----

There once was a man named Thomas. He always dreamed of being an artist. He wanted all of the nicest paints and canvases. The issue was, Thomas was very poor. Work in the 1920's was a bit hard to find, even for a kind, honest, hardworking man like Thomas. All Thomas wanted was to inspire people with his art.

Thomas would take any job he could to raise money, but he wanted a job that he could express himself through. He found a great job opening and immediately rushed in. It was a job making benches for local parks and private customers. He figured he could manipulate the metal and wood or carve the wood to make the benches artistic. He had a lot of background working as a carpenter before he got let go, and ended up getting the job.

Thomas was so happy to have a job and he worked his hardest every day to show his boss his gratitude. He always made sturdy benches with beautiful wood and metal designs. He worked and worked on a pretty small salary.

It took Thomas a long time to save up for all of the supplies that he wanted, but he didn't mind. After about a year and a half, he was only one paycheck away from his goal. He had almost every dollar he needed. He went home from work the night before he gets paid, and rejoiced. He made himself a nice dinner and treated himself to a drink. Thomas was really excited, and decides to go to bed a bit early. He and his golden retriever get settled into his bed, and they slept.

That night, Thomas had a heart attack and he never woke up. He would never get what he wanted. He would never be able to paint for people; he would never be able to inspire people.

----modern day----

There once was a girl named Bella. She was only 16, but she loved to draw. Nobody knew how good she was because she was really shy. The only person that had ever seen her drawings was her mom, who paid no attention to her and couldn't care less. Bella didn't have a lot of confidence because of her mother, and kept to herself.

Bella was walking through the park, but she was growing tired. She had been walking for hours. She was looking for the perfect picture to draw, but nothing was catching her eye. She gave up and sat down looking at her blank sheet and perfectly sharp pencil. She sighed, about to give up, and lifted her head. In front of her, the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. Bella started drawing as fast as she could and drew each detail to a tee. She drew until the sun went down and then she ran home.

Bella showed her mother, but didn't expect any good feedback. Surprisingly, her mom was proud and told her that she should take the drawing to school and try and enter it into an art show. Bella was happy that her mom liked the drawing and agreed to take it to school.

She carefully put it into her book bag in the morning and stopped in the art room before school started. The teacher agreed with Bella's mom and told Bella that he would enter it into the next art show. Bella was very grateful that he was willing to do the work for her. She was excited to see other people enjoying her art.

What Bella didn't know was just how much people would like it. She ended up winning the first place prize for her drawing. The art teacher put it in more art shows and each time, she ended up first. A magazine did an interview with her. It wasn't long before every person in America knew her name. Bella was famous. She was invited to 10 TV shows a week. She was appreciative that people liked her drawing and that they had made her famous. Her life was changed with this one picture.

The drawing she did sitting on the man's last bench.