Grandmother, Naked
A widow finds new meaning to her life as a model for a college life drawing class, only to find that nude photos and degrading tweets have been posted online. She takes her revenge.
As she mused, Belinda undressed, folded her clothes neatly and placed them in her tote. She did a few stretches to limber up and slipped on a comfortable white terry cloth robe and gray scuffs. The butterflies in her stomach had flown away. Professor Kimura had been as warm and reassuring today as he was in her interview last Tuesday when he had offered her the job and gone over the details.
Belinda opened the door connecting his office to the studio. The professor was finishing up his housekeeping announcements.
"Ah excellent!" He smiled at her as she walked into the studio. "Our model is here. Model, if you could take your place on the platform, please." Belinda slipped out of her robe, placing it on the chair reserved for her, stepped out of her scuffs and stood on the platform, awaiting further instructions.
"Let's begin with some 30 second gesture drawings. Charcoal, I think. Work with the side, please, and not the tip. Big gestures on your large newsprint pad. Pay attention to weight and balance. You don't have to color inside the lines."
The students chuckled.
"Work rapidly and remember to have fun. Model, first pose, please."
Thirty seconds went by very quickly
"Change pose, please." Another 30 seconds.
"Again change. No cheating, students. Move on to the next drawing.
And the next, and the next and the next. Belinda moved through a familiar repertoire of poses designed for quick studies. It surprised her that after all this time her body would remember the litany, as fluid as a carefully choreographed dance.
"Let's take a break, please, Model."
Belinda left the platform, put on her robe and scuffs and sat down. Professor Kimura circulated amount the students, holding up a drawing whenever he found one to be share-worthy, correcting it with his own red crayon.
"OK, good work everyone. Sixty second poses this time."
He glanced at Belinda, his eyes asking "everything okay?" She smiled and resumed her place on the platform.
"When you are ready."
Belinda allowed her body to settle into a graceful pose. Professor Kimura walked softly among the students, wielding his red Conté crayon as a magic wand, correcting faults in their drawings.
"Excellent," Belinda heard him say to one of them. "Don't louse it up." Several students laughed.