Life's Other Plans
A Short Story (originally written 2021)
Glenn opened the curtains and let the morning sunlight spread over his new studio. With all the overtime he'd spent taking angry, anguished, and confused calls from customers over the last several weeks, he'd hardly set foot in this room since moving in. Now he could finally stay home, unwind, and paint.
He picked out a canvas and taped his reference photo to the corner of his drafting table. It was a shot of a country field, taken on the way to a camping trip with his now-roommate, Vic. The tree and wire fence in the foreground were nice enough, and so was the mountain fading into the background, but it was the cumulus cloud towering overhead that Glenn knew he had to capture and preserve on canvas.
For his palette, Glenn squirted out some light red, Prussian blue, and yellow ochre. Most of the time a limited color scheme like this was enough. He took his palette knife and started mixing the paints together…
…when his phone rang. It was his roommate, Vic, who would be clocking out from his morning shift right about now.
"Yo, dude, you hungry?"
"Um, well," Glenn said, "not quite just yet, but I could—"
"All right, here, I'll answer: yes, you are. Listen, Ray's moving out to Phoenix tomorrow, we're meeting up for lunch to say goodbye. It's at that pho place you like."
Glenn could hardly say no. He'd been friends with Ray since high school. The two had supported each other's art—Glenn's painting, Ray's music—as best they could. This move to Phoenix was the end of an era, but also a great opportunity for him. Glenn had to go. "Right now?"
"Right now. You coming?"
He set his palette knife on the side table. "Yeah. I'm coming."
"Don't sound too enthusiastic."
"I'll see you in a minute."
After closing the call, Glenn stared at the canvas, empty except for the light pencil sketch of the road and mountain. This would happen right when he was just getting started. At least it was still fairly early in the day. And of course Vic and Ray didn't mean any harm.
Glenn took off his apron and carried the palette to the kitchen to put in the freezer so the paint wouldn't dry. He could restart as soon as he got back.
He got back with a full stomach and the fragrance of pho still in the back of his nose. "All right," he told Vic, "I'll be up in my studio. I need to get a painting out of my system."
"Sure," Vic said. "I'll let you know if something important happens."
Glenn returned to his table, put his apron back on, and mixed a few more colors, then began brushing them onto the canvas. Each stroke was slow, gentle, and relaxed. As far from the stresses of everyday life as he could imagine. Even the colors took him back to the peace and awe he'd felt taking the picture.
Before he knew it, more than an hour had passed, and he had the basic colors laid down. Things were really taking shape now. At this rate, he might be nearly done by dinner time.
He heard the front door of the house unlock and open. Vic must have ordered takeout again.
Except… Wait, they already went out to lunch today.
Tiny but powerful feet clomped up the stairs, toward the studio. Glenn's nine-year-old niece Wendy threw open the door. "Hi, Glenn! Vic said you'd be in here."
Her little brother Willie trotted in behind her. "Hiya, Glenn!"
"Um… Hi." Glenn set his brush aside as the two roamed around the room. "You know I expect you to knock first."
Their mother Gina stepped in, rapping her knuckles on the door on the way in. "All right, kids, settle down. Afternoon, Glenn. Hard at work as usual, I see."
"Sure," Glenn said. "So what brings you here? I didn't realize you were coming."
"You sure?" Wendy said. "Momma sent you a text."
"Didn't you get it?" Gina said.
Glenn checked his phone. He had indeed received a message from his sister about looking after the kids today. He'd been so wrapped up in painting he hadn't noticed. Didn't even feel it vibrate. "That'll teach me not to pay attention."
"At any rate, it's all in the text, but I have to run a ton of errands, and my usual sitter's sick. Then I remembered you saying you'd be off today. Figured you wouldn't be too busy."
"Well…" Glenn nudged his head toward the painting. "Maybe a little busy."
"Right, but not too much. It's just for a few hours. You kids won't bother your Uncle Glenn too much, will you?"
"We won't," Willie and Wendy said.
"Perfect!" Gina said. "Thanks so much, Glenn. You're a lifesaver. I'll even buy you dinner for this. How about that pho place you like?"
"Already went there for lunch," Glenn said.
"Then start thinking about where to go." Gina headed for the door. "See you guys later. Love you!"
"Bye, Mom!" the kids said. "Love you!"
She shut the door behind her, leaving Glenn with children who needed supervision on one hand and a painting that needed to be finished on the other. On the bright side, these weren't exactly wild little monsters. Wendy had gotten old enough to show a little self-control, keep an eye on her brother, and actually hold a conversation. "I like your new studio, Glenn."
"Thanks," Glenn said. "Vic was just using the room to store some old A/V equipment, and it turned out to be perfect for what I needed." He dabbed some contours onto the mountain. "Sorry I'm not that interesting today. I've just been itching to work on this for such a long time."
"It's all right. I like watching you paint."
"Can I paint something, Glenn?" Willie said.
Glenn couldn't believe the idea had slipped past him until now, but with all the stress lately, it was no wonder. "Actually, yeah." If there's one thing that kids love, it's an art project, and these two were no exception. Better to keep them occupied in here than let them run wild around someone else's house. They were even wearing clothes that already had paint stains on them—Gina had planned ahead, hadn't she? Glenn just never had to babysit and paint at the same time before.
He pointed at some smaller canvas boards propped upright on his bookshelf. "Grab a couple of those." While they did, he found some older brushes and some smaller palettes and squirted out some acrylics, then ran to the kitchen to fill a mason jar with water. When he got back, the kids had already situated themselves on the floor and started painting, improvising right onto their canvases.
He set the jar down and returned to his table. "All right, now when your mom gets back, we'll have something to show for it."
Now that they were focused on their work, Wendy and Willie hardly made any noise, except for the occasional clink of a brush in the jar. Glenn was able to proceed with his own painting at his usual pace. The closest either of them came to disturbing him was when Wendy asked to listen to music on his phone, and even then, she'd brought earbuds.
After a while, the kids came up to show him what they'd made.
Willie had painted a bird with bold black outlines and bright blue wings spread out across the board. "It's a hawk! We saw it on the way over here!"
"Very cool," Glenn said.
Wendy, for her part, had rendered a portrait of an anime girl, and done a rather decent job at it. The outlines were clear, the colors smooth and well-mixed. Sure, Glenn had taught her a few things over the years, but apparently they'd managed to stick. "Wow, very nice. Who is it?"
"It's Uraraka, from Boku no Hero. She's my favorite character."
"I'm impressed, Wendy. I mean it. And I think your mom and dad are going to be impressed when they see it."
She beamed with a bashful pride.
Glenn decided he could spare a couple more canvas boards, and the kids wound up taking only one. Wendy had the idea of her and Willie taking turns with the brushstrokes, each one adding to what the other was creating. Glenn had done goofy projects like that with his friends in college.
As the day went on, Glenn's painting came to more closely resemble the photo he had taken. The mountain and the cloud were taking shape, as were the trees in the middleground. So naturally, that's when he got a call from his manager Daryl. An icy pit fell in Glenn's stomach. What did he want now?
"Glenn, I need you to come in tonight. Teri's out sick, Avery's still on vacation, and everybody in the world's decided to call in. I've been taking some calls, but we need all the help we can get."
Glenn looked over his shoulder at his niece and nephew muttering to each other over their brushstrokes. There was no easy way to say it, so he just came out with it. "I'm sorry, I can't do it. I've got my sister's kids over, and I've already made plans tonight I can't cancel."
"You're positive?" Daryl said.
"Don't know what else to tell you. You caught me at a bad time."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Glenn. I honestly thought you were more of a team player."
Glenn wished they were in the same room so he could throw his phone at Daryl's forehead. The fact was, even if the kids weren't here, even if he had no particular plans, Glenn would have still said no. He'd fought long and hard through all those shifts on the promise of this day off, for the time and freedom to paint a simple rural landscape. He wasn't going to let Daryl take it away. "I'll be there tomorrow as scheduled."
"I suppose we'll just have to make do."
Glenn set his phone on the table next to the canvas and let out a groan so low and deep it came out as a growl.
"Something wrong?" Wendy said.
"It's my boss," Glenn said. "Seems to think my precious time is better spent over there in the office than here."
Wendy and Willie gave each other quizzical looks. "I like it here better," Willie said.
"Darn straight." Glenn took several deep breaths. If he didn't tamp down his anger, his brushstrokes would get sloppy and ruin the painting. He distracted himself for a moment by watching the kids work on their thing. So far they'd come up with some kind of interesting Picasso-meets-Pollack creation. Soon his blood settled, and he returned to his field.
Just as Glenn was about to start painting in the fence, his niece began to shriek at her brother. "Look what you did! It's ruined!"
Glenn spun his chair around to find the mason jar on its side, a puddle on the floor, and heavy smears on top of the canvas board.
"I didn't mean it!" Willie said. "It was an accident!"
"We worked so hard!" Wendy watched the water trickle toward the wall. "Ahh! It's gonna get on Uraraka!" She snatched her previous painting and raised it up onto a table. "It's your fault! You're so clumsy!"
"I am not!" Willie pressed his palm onto the wet paint and rubbed it on Wendy's face. "Take that!"
Glenn jumped to his feet. "Whoa, hey!" he shouted as Wendy countered by smearing Willie with both hands.
Glenn grabbed the kids and pulled them apart, but not before all three of them had gotten paint on their faces, hands, and arms, and some additional handprint stains on their shirts. He sent them each to a different corner of the studio to cool down. Growing up Mom had dealt with him and Gina the same way whenever they started fighting. Meanwhile water was still trickling around the floor.
Vic knocked at the door and peeked in. "What's going on in here?"
"Hey, Vic." Glenn said. "Just a little scuffle. Good timing, actually. Can you grab me a towel?"
"Sure." Vic stepped away and returned with one from the bathroom.
"Appreciate it." Glenn stooped down and began sopping up the water, muddied up by so many shades of acrylic having rinsed off into it from the kids' brushes.
Vic was still watching in the doorway. "Seems like you've been having fun." He told Wendy, "Kinda looks like war paint."
"I'm just glad I don't have to worry about their clothes," Glenn said. "Their mother's fairly fashion-conscious, and I'm pretty sure if they were wearing their nice clothes, she would murder me for this."
"She would," Wendy said.
With no further help needed, Vic went back to the living room, while Glenn finished cleaning up the spilled water. He did the canvas last, though the best he could do was dry off the back. Even without the water, the paint was still wet, and dabbing with a towel would only smear the paint further. It looked as though they had been painting some kind of abstract dinosaur, but thanks to the water, it looked like a dinosaur that was melting in the sun.
He sent the kids out one at a time to wash their faces and hands. First Willie came back, and as Wendy left, he told Glenn, "I really didn't mean it. I was just trying to reach one of the corners."
"I know, it's okay. Accidents happen. I think deep down your sister realizes it, too. I just don't like the two of you fighting in here."
"Can we paint one more?"
Glenn looked over at the one canvas board he had left to spare. If he let them start over while he was focused on his painting, they might go back to bickering and even fighting again, and wind up making a real mess.
He wasn't going to come close to finishing his painting today.
Wendy came in as Glenn grabbed the last canvas board and set it on the floor. At least he'd made a good start. But he went back to his regular job tomorrow, and who knows if he'd have the energy at the end of the day to pick up where he'd left off? If he put it off tomorrow, what would stop him from putting it off the next day, or the day after that?
Glenn would just have to figure that out later. The important thing right now was his sister's children. "This time, let's all of us paint together." If nothing else, he would still be painting.
He poured some water into the mason jar, sat down in the floor, and painted a stroke on the canvas. "All right. One of you go next."
By the time their mother arrived, they had assembled a funny-looking horse with bright green sneakers. They showed it and the other paintings off to Gina when she came to pick the kids up.
"Wow, it's amazing. You've clearly been busy while I was out." Gina tugged on Willie's shirt. "They didn't get too rowdy, did they, Glenn?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle."
"Good to hear. Kids, why don't you go run outside? Daddy's waiting in the car." After Wendy and Willie stormed out, Gina leaned on the back of Glenn's chair. "This one's coming along pretty nicely, too. What're you going to do when it's finished?"
"Who knows?" Glenn got up and placed the round-robin painting next to Uraraka on the table. "Rural landscapes aren't exactly the most marketable art forms right now, so forget about selling it. I just want to get it done, but at the rate I'm going I have no clue when I'll get a chance to finish it."
"Work still jerking you around?"
"You know it," Glenn said, gathering up the brushes. "Even tried to call me in tonight."
"Figures. How much are they paying you?"
Glenn told her.
"For the love of—" Gina gritted her teeth. "The hardware store on 8th Street is hiring for more than that. There's no shame in a job like that. Your skills are bound to be at least marginally more useful there than at a friggin' call center."
"Well now I'm tempted." Anything for some free time. Probably his fault for getting an art history degree, but then, not like anybody's degree was all that useful these days. "We still getting dinner?"
"I made a promise, didn't I? You figure out where you want to eat?"
"I'm thinking Mexican."
"I know just the place. You ready to go?"
"Just let me clean off these brushes and get changed."
Gina picked up her children's artwork. "Then I'll be right outside."
As she left, Glenn picked up the mason jar and gave the painting one last look for the time being. It wasn't really all that far from completion, now that he thought about it. Maybe he could work on it some more after he got home. But on the other hand, even with hobbies, you needed to give yourself some rest every once in a while. Art, work, and the sabbath were all made for man, not the other way around.
He closed the curtain, flipped the light switch, and went to pour out the pigmented water and clean the brushes.
At least he'd gotten a little bit done today.