Farmed Out (7 page)

I balled my hands up into fists. I wanted to scream at my mother to turn the car around so that I could get my drawing back. Instead I looked out the window as the perfect green rows of vegetables whipped by.

Bit by bit, I felt my hands relax. I wondered if Anna had discovered the portrait yet.

“So, for next summer's adventure,” my mom was saying, “there's this nice little ashram in the Kootenays. You can do yoga up to six times a day if you want to. A girlfriend of mine went there a couple of years ago and loved it.”

My mom went on and on. I closed my eyes behind my sunglasses and fell asleep.

Chapter Thirteen

Life got back to normal when my mom and I returned home to the city. My mom put her pantyhose on and went to work. I returned to my life as a teenager in the summertime, which meant hanging around the house and watching old movies all day. I did some babysitting, and I hung out with my friends. I went to the art gallery and worked on my
Downtown Soles
drawings. My latest drawing was a pair of red high heels against a graffiti-covered alley wall. Life felt different though. I didn't have the hopes of the New York City trip and the cover of
Canvas Magazine
to look forward to. A week after we got back from the farm, I got a card in the mail from Anna.
Thank You
, it said in fancy scrollwork letters on the front.
Thank you
for the incredible portrait, Maddie!
Anna had written on the inside of the card.
I can't believe you gave it to me. You're
the best. Love, Anna
. My heart thumped with pride. It also broke a little. I sometimes couldn't believe I had given her the portrait either. But I was glad I had.

Anna and I had been chatting online and emailing almost every day since I got her thank-you card. She sent me updates and photos of Frida Junior.

The long, hot days and weeks went by, and soon it was the last week of August. School was going to start again soon.

On the Friday before the first day of school, I got a brown envelope in the mail.
Canvas Magazine
, it said on the front of the envelope. It was always fun getting my magazine in the mail. But now it was a little sad too.

I ripped open the envelope. I might as well see who had won the contest.

I pulled out the September issue of
Canvas.
It had a typed letter paper-clipped to the front cover. Weird, I thought. The magazine didn't usually come with a letter.

Dear Madison,
the letter said.
Thank
you for your entry, “Frida Cowlo,” for
our “Face of Youth” Art Contest. We
are pleased to announce that you are
First Runner-up.

Holy. Crap. Was this a dream? I read the first part of the letter over and over. How did my picture get entered in the contest? Finally I decided to read on.

Your prize includes $500 cash and
an all-access pass to New York City's
major art galleries. We hope that you
will enjoy your full-page portrait,
printed on page thirty-six of the
enclosed September issue. Thank you
for your excellent entry.

I let out a big, loud, whooping scream of surprise and happiness. I danced around the apartment, clutching the letter over my head. I plopped myself on the floor and rolled around with giddiness. I read the letter about twenty times.

I flipped to page thirty-six. I screamed all over again. There was Frida Cowlo in all her colorful glory. At the bottom of the page it said:
Frida Cowlo, by
Madison Turner, age fifteen, Vancouver,
BC, Canada.
I pinched myself. This wasn't a dream.

I was so glad to have a copy of the portrait. It really was the best piece I had ever drawn. It was probably the best piece I would
ever
draw.

I flipped to the cover of the magazine, to the winning portrait. It was an intricate line drawing of an old woman's face, with heavily wrinkled eyes and a small, sad-looking smile.
“Face of Youth” Art
Contest Winner
—
Grandma Violet, by
Jessie Sayers, age fourteen, Portland,
ME
, it said. The artist had gotten the light and shading on the old woman's face just right. It was an excellent portrait.

Then I tried to analyze how it had all happened. Anna would have known that the contest deadline was coming up. She must have figured out where and how to send it. Wow. This was too much to take in.

I leaped up and ran to the phone. I dialed the Friesens' number. Anna answered.

I didn't even say hello. “I'm First Runner-up!” I blurted.

“You didn't win?” Anna said. “That's ridiculous!”

“But, Anna, how did you—? Where did you—? I can't believe you entered my portrait in the contest!” I said.

“The Internet is a wonderful thing,” Anna said in her matter-of-fact tone. “I looked up the
Canvas Magazine
website, found the contest details, went to town and mailed it. My parents had your address from your mom's volunteer application.”

Anna made the amazing thing that she had done sound so straightforward.

“But you sent the portrait in to the contest?” I implored. “The whole idea was for you to keep it!”

“Ever hear of digital copies?” Anna said. “I mailed a copy to the contest. I kept the original.”

Oh right. Duh. I hadn't thought of that.

“How did you keep it from me all this time?” I said.

Anna laughed. “I'm pretty good at keeping a secret. So, what's your prize?”

“Five hundred dollars in cash, a pass to New York City's art galleries, and the portrait is in the magazine,” I said.

“You can get tickets to fly to New York for only six hundred, on a good deal! You'll just have to save a little more,” Anna said, sounding excited. “We can go together next summer. We can stay with my brother, Thomas. We might have to sleep in his bathtub, but that's okay!”

Anna was right. We could still go to New York City, even if I hadn't won first prize.

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, yes, yes!”

I started jumping up and down as I said it. After Anna and I talked about our Manhattan plans for a while, I hung up.

I couldn't wait to go on my dream trip to New York. No tarot cards. No Reiki. No feng shui. This was going to be
my
adventure.

Acknowledgments

A very big thank-you to my wonderful editor, Melanie Jeffs, for your thoughtful, perceptive comments and changes.

To Heather Bell, Janis McKenzie, Pat Maher, Zoë Howard, Laura Dodwell-Groves and the Inkslingers—Rachelle Delaney, Lori Sherritt, Tanya Kyi, Maryn Quarless and Kallie George—many thanks for your friendship, feedback and support.

Much love and gratitude, as always, to my amazing Joshua and my family.

Christy Goerzen has never performed Reiki on a pig.
Farmed Out
is her second entry in the Orca Currents series. Christy lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

orca currents

For more information on all the books
in the Orca Currents series, please visit
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