The Drawing: A Romance Novel

By Annie Peralta

The Drawing

This is a novel about a childhood full of friendship and memories that blossomed into an undying love that tied their hearts forever for the rest of their lives.

It is also about a little girl’s little journey in pursuit of her dream expressed in her paintings that became a reality.

The past had been a thief to their friendship. It had stolen all the good, innocent days of their childhood, their youth, teen years, and growing years.

Henry and May Liza grew up separated by the past and were reunited after eleven years.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781644627822

Book preview

Chapter 1

She was seated one afternoon in spring, breathing the warm sea wind, her back inclined and rested against the beach palm tree, her legs laid on the idyllic sand, watching the sky filled with the colors of the sinking sun, radiant, luminous red, blazing like a fire resembling melting gold combined with dark orange hue. The glowing blue waves of the sea was slowly getting dark and shadowy, the distant sun slowly descending down the skyline. Holding her palette, she mixed sets of red, orange, and purple color, and her paintbrush with even and smooth brush strokes painted in her canvas scintillating scene of the sunset, so absorbed and delighted to finish it. Little did she know it was getting late and time to go home.

May Liza was only eleven years old, a sixth grader who loved to paint landscape sceneries, seascapes, and even moods, feelings, and emotions.

Seated beside her was Henry, who just finished swimming and was drying his body and hair, a friend and neighbor who lived close to her house, also an eleven-year-old. Henry was swimming while May Liza was painting. Wrapped in a towel, he went close to see the scenery May Liza painted.

That’s a very colorful sunset scene you painted there, Henry complimented admiringly.

Do you like it? asked May Liza.

Yeah sure, the sun was beautifully painted as it goes down the blue waves.

Suddenly Henry’s father arrived and said to them, Don’t you think it’s time to go? Twilight will fall pretty soon. It’s going to be too dark around here

They packed up and headed home.

Spring time is May Liza’s favorite season, and sunset is one of her favorite sceneries. With her sketch pad, alone, she sat and dreamed. And every time she dreamed, she puts it into drawing, using colored pencils and markers. She drew her dreams and ambition. She dreamed of traveling around the world, so she sketched pictures of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, and the Tower Bridge in London, England, and the gondolas in Venice, Italy, which she only saw in books and magazines. She also dreamed of owning a flower shop someday, so she drew an image of a little flower shop full of beautiful flowers inside. Then she kept all these drawings in a binder and placed them in a box.

As a little kid she has always been painting and drawing, filling her folders and notebooks with cartoon characters such as Snoopy, Woody Woodpecker, Bart Simpson, and other children’s favorite characters. She was always being praised by her teacher in school for her beautiful drawings, although done in crayons. In school, her art always won first prize as the most outstanding piece of art and was always being displayed in school hallways with other student winners. Even her family found her paintings enjoyable. Many of them were hung on the wall.

Every time there was an art festival in the community, she would join the competition, and her art always won; some of them were exhibited in the community art center.

She and her family lived in a tiny village in Yolo County in the northern part of California near Davis.

She was the second to the eldest of five children. As a little girl, she already knew how to help her mother in taking care of her kid brothers and sisters. She fed, bathed, and clothed them. She ran errands for her mother, cooked, and did the laundry. Her father was an agricultural-farm tractor driver, and her mother baked homemade cakes and cookies to earn a little money whenever there were occasions and celebrations in the community and when the neighbors just wanted to place an order.

May Liza was a gifted and very talented young girl. She was also fascinated in flower design. She sketched and created design for flowers. She grew up with sketch books, brushes, canvas, and drawing boards.

She read books on geography, where she learned other countries’ cultures and way of life. She dreamed someday she would be fortunate to set foot on these lands.

She also kept a grateful journal. Whenever she had good experiences she felt grateful for, she documented them in her journal.

May Liza was a pretty girl but lonesome and isolated. But whenever she was lonely, she found comfort by looking at the ocean and by looking up to the sky. She believed and feels that all cares were resolved by looking up there in the blue sky.

Henry was her only friend who lived close to their house. They were both in sixth grade, but they were not classmates. They ate together in the school cafeteria. Sometimes they both walked to school, which was very close to their houses. Henry was the only boy whom she shared her art with. All the spring and autumn flowers that she had finished drawing, she would show them all to Henry. They played in the nearby playground, climbed trees, rode their bikes, played catch, shared food and toys, and walked with their puppies and went trick-or-treating together.

Although Henry and May Liza did not have a lot in common, they got along well together. They only had one thing in common. They both loved anything aquatic, the coast, and nature. May Liza always drew scenes about the sea; her two favorites were the ocean and flowers. Henry loved to fish. He had a passion for fishing. One day he went to see May Liza carrying a small plastic bag filled with water, and in it were two small goldfish his father bought for him from a collector’s fish store.

I want to show you something, she said to May Liza.

Show me what?

Here, aren’t they pretty?

Do you collect fish?

Not really as a collector. I’m just fond of them.

Where are you going to place those fish?

Maybe in a bowl for now. I wish I could place them in a small aquarium, but I don’t think I can afford to maintain that right now.

Henry was very fond of fish. His aunt Carol, his father’s sister, had a small fishpond with some lotus plants and water lilies in her backyard. One time he and May Liza tried to catch fish without a fishing rod. Henry used an old tiny cloth, which he attached on a small stick, and submerged it in water to catch, but he fell down the water. Although it was shallow, he had a hard time getting up.

After that fall, Henry asked his father to buy him a small fishing rod. His father agreed except that he would not use it at his aunt Carol’s pond.

On some summer weekends, his father would take him to a nearby lake to fish, and he became well acquainted in catching fish. His father also bought him a small fishbowl with some small-colored fish.

If his family would go camping, they usually picked up a site near a lake so he could fish.

Henry’s house was situated three houses away from May Liza’s home on the same block. Her home was in an area a little closer to where her father tilled the farm. And when it was in season, Henry and May Liza would go with her father to pick up some freshly grown strawberries in a small orchard.

One springtime, when the fruits were fully ripe, May Liza said, Here, you taste this one, it’s juicy and fresh. And she handed one to Henry.

I got some here too, they’re so sweet, Henry said as he picked up one and tasted it.

Sometimes they would madly run on the meadow then sit down by the grass and look at the wildflowers the trees and watch the birds. Henry always carried with him his binoculars, so they could watch countless birds flying or birds resting in their nest. Birds either resting or in flight made a beautiful sight.

During summer, they would run wildly on the beach or play at Henry’s backyard a water game called water limbo.

In the beach they would build a sandcastle, then May Liza would lie down and close her eyes, soothing herself with the warmth of the sun while feeling and enjoying the comfort of the beach’s most enthralling topography: the sand, the waves, the breeze, and the blue sky.

During one really hot summer at Henry’s backyard lawn, he pulled their hose with a nozzle, using the steady stream of water as a limbo stick, and she asked May Liza, Can you move your body under this stream without getting wet?

I’ll try. May Liza passed her body through for the first movement, then Henry lowered the stream, and May Liza tried again as it got lower and lower May Liza got soaked.

Okay, my turn, said Henry. May Liza held the stream, but as she lowered it, Henry got wet, and he grabbed the hose and turned the stream to May Liza instead until both of them were wet and laughing. Henry’s mother noticed the commotion and went outside.

What are you two doing there?

Nothing, Mom, we’re just having a little fun, Henry answered.

What kind of fun is that? You’re wet.

Another summer afternoon, Henry just dropped by at May Liza’s house, carrying with him a jump rope and jackstones and asked her which one she preferred to play.

Which would you prefer to play this time, jump rope or jacks?

I think I prefer to play jacks first, then we play jump rope later.

They have tried to play almost all kinds of games. Henry was also fond of playing basketball. His dad created an obstacle course for him to practice dribbling the ball. One afternoon, he invited May Liza to show him his dribbling skills with one hand then alternating hands, and he tried to teach her, but she was not much into basketball.

How do you like to play basketball with me? Henry asked.

I don’t play basketball.

It’s not really playing, just dribbling.

It was still spring, and one afternoon, after coming home from school, and while May Liza was sitting alone in their small porch playing blowing bubbles, Henry approached her.

Hi, May Liza, I have something for you.

What is that?

It’s a small teddy bear that I had since I was three years old, and I want you to keep it.

Henry handed to her the teddy bear, about the size of a small angel Christmas-tree ornament.

Why do you want me to keep it?

So that it will remind you of me while we are separated.

Why will we be separated?

My parents are planning to relocate to New York to look for a better job opportunity.

Henry’s father was a car salesman, who also sold other products and services, like insurance policies and cell phones. When the sales industry became competitive and some companies started closing for business, he could hardly earn commissions anymore. So he thought New York was still the best place for job hunters.

Henry also brought the sets of jacks with a small rubber ball that they both used to play and handed them to May Liza.

I want you to also keep this, so you can play with it anytime even without me.

Suddenly, Henry noticed a change in May Liza’s face. She became lonely at hearing those words. May Liza felt she was losing a friend.

What’s wrong? Henry asked, looking at May Liza’s face with a sudden mood change.

Nothing, I just can’t seem to believe you are leaving this town.

Don’t worry, I’ll write you a letter from time to time and send you pictures too. Hope you do the same thing.

Perhaps letters only, we don’t have a camera.

Someday maybe you’ll own one, Henry replied.

Are you going to be away for good? Will you be staying there forever?

I don’t know that yet. I’ll tell you that probably when I get there.

Take care of yourself, and don’t forget to pray always, May Liza said.

I will, you too.

Oh but I don’t have anything to give you, only a piece of art I drew maybe. Hold for a moment, I’ll get it.

Liza went into her room and got the box where she placed all her artwork. She took out one piece of cardboard where she once drew one of her dreams. The drawing depicted a girl dreaming of becoming a florist someday and owning a flower shop. At the back of the cardboard was written the title A Girl’s Dream with May Liza’s signature and a date when she finished the drawing. The drawing was done in colored pencils she created when she was ten years old. She showed it to Henry and said, Will you keep this too for me?

Henry was impressed at May Liza’s artwork and said admiringly.

Thank you, this is really nice. So you really plan to pursue an art career someday?

I don’t know yet, but I hope so. What do you plan to do in New York?

"Continue my studies and finish