TROLL BAIT

I was in front of Pop's Garage doing a qwik sketch.

I was drawing a guy.  He was on the end of the bench.

His two buddies were standing over my left shoulder, watching.

A woman comes along and tells me that I've misspelled

the word "advice" on my

FREE SPIRITUAL ADVISE

sign.

I told her it was, "troll bait".

  I was in the middle of a drawing, trying to concentrate. She didn't quietly and respectfully watch.

She didn't say "nice work".  She found fault.  Thousands of people walk by and never say anything.

She finds fault and interrupts me to let me know.  It's easy to find fault when we want to.  Why we want to is another question.

Strike one.

TROLL BAIT

What did I mean?  I'm a notoriously poor speller.  So was Michael Angelo.  So much so that I deliberately misspell

things. Inevitably some troll will point out my error.

That's how I can tell who the trolls are.  That's why I call it "troll bait".

Well I finished the drawing and collected the money.  They were satisfied and left.  I looked over and there she was standing next to the trash can. (No pun intended)

She asked if I was offended.  I said no and told her that Michael Angelo also was as notoriously poor speller.  She said it was part of being creative.

I looked at her.  She was a young, attractive woman.  The afternoon light made her glow.  Click, the artist saw a picture.

I said let me give you a card.  I retrieved one and handed it to her.  When I did I raised the camera to take a picture  She said "no" As I clicked the shutter.

THE POWER OF DENIAL

There is a book titled Seat of the Soul by Gary Sukov.

It was a best seller for a long time.  In it he talks about power.  Authentic power is someone who produces a product.

Artificial power are thing like, money, sex, drugs, guns, etc.

There is a third form of power he did not talk about.  The power of denial.  When people are powerless they are anxious to exercise the power of denial.  Like her.

Strike two.

I showed her the picture.  She said it was o.k.

I thought about this for awhile.  Some

times the best relationships start this way