Till next time, Ali A. Age 12

Three halcyon days in the life of a twelve year old. Found in a discarded notebook.

Reasons why I will get rejected

The Ship-Wreck'd Sailors

This is a pencil composition of seafarers in a sad plight. I found this in an old trunk where it had been undisturbed for over 50 years. I was thinking about who the artist might have been, considering the trunk and its contents were acquired from a different homestead by my grandfather. At first glance, I didn't notice a signature on the picture and assumed that the drawing was a copy of an extant painting. But today, while I was taking pictures of it, I found a very small signature to the right of the drowning figure in the foreground, a "Wm Bance." This may not be of any significance, but the drawing could very well be original. Jumping out of the drawing the way it did, finding the signature was a dramatic little moment like in a Josephine Tey detective novel, when the inspector recognizes the man in the portrait and solves the mystery. Except I haven't really solved anything, and the artist remains in the shadows.

Other trifles in the trunk: a red cross button from 1921, a sheaf of letters from 1915 tied with a shoe-lace, a very small key, enamel costume jewelry, old primers, woolen mittens, a Farmer's Almanac, buttons, and a homemade rose-shaped pin made of sealing wax.