Illustration Friday: Spent

Spent

A long straggling line;

The old lady bent double

with a dog under one arm

and a roast chicken in the other,

The frazzled young mother

with two kids; one in the trolley

covered in chocolate,

The other running riot

grabbing items from the shelves

‘Can I have this?’

‘I want this’

‘I need this’

Three teenage girls thumbing through

magazines,

chewing gum and giggling at

The farmer in his Akubra

with a knife in his belt

and a carton of Coca-Cola in his arms,

Two miners dressed in orange

with coal-streaked faces

and a basket of top-grade steak...

Each.

And us,

My Uncle and me

At the front of the show with our

Trolley full of cheap,

White-wrapped,

Home-brand

Bargain-basement groceries.

I don’t know why I asked,

I never do

but something about the

other people got to me;

A spoilt dog getting roast chicken,

A baby covered in chocolate,

A boy getting his way,

Girls with shiny new glossy magazines,

A farmer and two miners spending a

small fortune on expensive food

and smokes.

And my Uncle paying for our

Trolley full of cheap,

White-wrapped,

Home-brand

Bargain-basement groceries.

I don't know why I asked,
‘Uncle Mick, can I have some gum please?’

‘No. Sorry kiddo’

‘A chocolate then?’

‘No’

‘A lolly?’

‘I’m sorry but you can’t’

I felt the teens giggling,

The boy’s tongue poking,

The miners’ sneering at our

Trolley full of cheap,

White-wrapped,

Home-brand

Bargain-basement groceries.

And I felt the back of my eyes

prickle with heat as I whined,

‘Pleeease?’

I felt my Uncle’s strong grip on my arm

turning me to face him

I felt his stern gaze that I couldn’t meet

I felt his disappointment as I continued to

whine, ‘but why?’

And I felt more ashamed than I

ever thought possible

when he simply said

 ‘this is why’ 
opened his wallet

and showed me...

nothing.

This illustration is a bit of a tribute to my illustrator-hero, Quentin Blake. If, like me, you grew up reading Roald Dahl and Michael Rosen then you probably often confused reality with QB's art... people and animals should look like his drawings in real life! As for the story... it's from the same verse novel I've been working on for a while now. Going slow but going well... I think.

Happy Doodling