“So, that settles it. Good.,” said George as he went through the door from which Mary brought out the printed photo, the room which seemed only he and Mary had access to, leaving three of us with assorted bewilderment on our faces. We looked at one another as to wondering what to do next till the professor cleared his throat.
“I will discuss with him later but for now let’s look at the drawing. You are..,”
“Malee. MAY-LEE. Sir” whispered Malee. She had never talked to a white man before, but thankfully, the professor spoke fluent Thai.
“Flowers, huh? Don’t worry. I have been for over 10 years teaching children and adults. Lets see what you wronged there.,” said the professor as he decided if he would be there for a while, he might as well talk about the art to someone who would listen to him. He pointed out several features of the drawing which were not proportional, such as head of the dog, and lights from the street lamp. Malee nodded several times and before long, they were in a full discussion on how they can make the drawing better as if they had known each other for years and not hours.
Soon, George emerged from the door and smiled as he saw the professor and Malee engrossed in discussion. He put his fingers to his lips when Mary turned around and duly went to the sofa and lied down for a nap. It was late evening before the discussion was over and both the teacher and the student parted each way with smiles facing the snoring boy on the sofa. Mary gave a signalled to Malee before closing the door to clean up the papers and pencils quietly so as not to awake the young master and left the room with the professor’s bag.
Malee nodded and went about tidying the room and placing the drawings on the table neatly and realised that the drawing on the top was her own drawing. She smiled as she looked at the drawing and the pointers that the professor gave to make it better.
“You can keep it. It’s yours.,” said the voice from behind her. She was too engrossed in the drawing that she nearly jumped from the sudden shock. It was George, rubbing his eyes and holding his spectacles on the right hand. He must have awaken to find the room empty with Malee staring down at a picture on the table.
“I hope I did nothing wrong. I didn’t mean to..”
“It’s fine. The whole art class wasn’t my idea, anyway. My mother, my step-mother, wanted it.,” said George who had a personality of someone with very strong likes and dis-likes. He could well-afford to, anyway. He took a second look at the drawing and was even more impressed than the first time he saw it. It was not only a better drawing, but he could see she drew it with a much steadier hand than his. The edges around the objects were much more refined and sharper than his attempt, and also there were little corrections to them.
Then they heard the click of the door and Malee went over expecting Mary to come back to call her, but saw the mistress standing at the door. She was wearing a western coat with the hat slanting to one side, entirely covering half the face till her lips.
“How was the lesson, my boy? Oh, you drew that? Let me see it.,” said the mistress, stepping into the room past Malee and taking away the picture in his hand.
“Wonderful. Amazing. I must show to John when he is back. Well done, George.,” said the mistress, giving a tight hug to George at the same time. “This drawing needs a frame.,”
Then she turned around to Malee. “You. Call Mary here.”
Malee bowed in fear and ran out of the door without noticing George’s eyes glowing beneath his glasses. He didn’t like other people giving orders to his personal servants, especially not his step-mother and definitely not in his room. She wasn’t even supposed to come in without giving advance notice to him.