By: Jim Bates

“It’s all in the wrist,” he said
“Really?”
“Well,” he grinned lovingly mussing his son’s hair
“Maybe some magic’s involved, too.”
“Wow!” The boy looked closely
The pencil-drawn portrait of a horse’s head was too good to be true.

Inspired he tried drawing
Tried to emulate the old man
Went through paper like a twisting tornado
Epic failure on a massive scale.

Years later he still has some of his dad’s old drawings
Framed and hanging on the wall
His favorite is one of the old man
A self-portrait of him drawing himself
The son smiles whenever he looks at it
Dad still made it look so darned easy
Even if there was magic involved
It didn’t matter
As young boy sitting next to his father
Watching him no matter what he drew
Being with him was the important thing
That was enough
Its own kind of magic.