My Dialog

Getting all the kids on and off the bus was a difficult task but it helped to have the some parents volunteering that Thursday morning. Melissa was leading the class to the museum when she remembered that there was still a few paintings that she was going to point out but had no idea what they were about. The kids gasping with glee, whispering to one another, were extremely excited and wanted to know what was going on in the painting.

Once arriving at the first painting she wanted to talk about, one of her kids said, “I don’t get it. Why is the painting so dark and scary? Mrs. Marks, why is the lady holding her heart?” With a long breath in and then an exhale out, Melissa looked at the painting and then at her kids, she shamed herself for not preparing better for this field trip, and then quickly thought of an explanation for the painting.

“Good question Patrick, are any of you other kids wondering the same thing?” With a overwhelming shaking of the heads, Melissa begun her interpretation of the painting. “Let’s start with question one, about the painting being so dark. One reason is because this painting was created so long ago that they did not have as bright of colors as you see today. Color, back in the olden days, was extremely expensive, so artists would only use it on the most important characters in the painting. Another reason why the painting was so dark is because painting usually was done at night because painters did not make enough money, so most artists had to have a day job as well, to support their family. Therefore, they could only see by candlelight which created the sense of night time in the picture as well.” The parents looked confused for a minute but after glancing at the picture and then back at her, they all started to shake their head in agreement. Melissa thought, wow this was easier than I thought, not taking a quarter of art class did not seem to hurt her so far. She not only had the kids fooled, but the parents as well.

One of the mothers asked, “So what is going on between the characters in this painting?” Without knowing who the characters were or what the painting was trying to convey, Melissa again took a shot in the dark.

“Well, as you notice on the left we have an angel sent from heaven to earth, and I can remember my father telling me this story when I was a little girl, probably in the first grade just like all of you. This angel, Stanley, was sent down from heaven because God assigned Stanley to be Sarah’s guardian angel. Sarah is the woman on the right, Sarah is in her late twenties and has had a rough life so far. Stanley has lots of people to look after, but every night before he goes to sleep and every morning when he wakes up, he looks down on Sarah because deep down he finds her very beautiful and full of life. Once in a while, he will fly into her bedroom just to watch her sleep peacefully. One night, after she had been sleeping for quite some time, Sarah started to stir about in her bed. She must have been having a bad dream because she quickly woke up and saw Stanley for a quick second before he flew out the window. It was the strangest feeling because she had seen this angel man before, many times, in her dreams. So instead of being scared that he was in her bedroom, she felt more relieved and at peace.”

“Did she know he was an angel Mrs. Marks, or did she think it was still a dream.” Cari was so intrigued at the story and all eyes were fully intent on hearing the rest of the fictional story, Melissa felt sure she was on the right track.

“Oh, Sarah was sure he was an angel because only angels could be that handsome and only angels could fly away so gracefully, without a word. Wait, come back, she thought, but before her eyes could be fully adjusted to the night time light he was gone. Just thinking about him, she fell quietly back to sleep. When Stanley arrived back at the heavenly gates, God was there to greet him. Stanley, I saw what just happened, and that’s not the first time you’ve been caught by Sarah. You are lucky she did not freak out, most people would, what you did is not professional. Your job is to look after her to make sure she is okay, but not to spy on her at night. Stanley thought to himself, I’m not spying, I just love to watch her sleep so peacefully. She is such a unique and special girl, I wish I could be with her all the time.”

“Then what happens Mrs. Marks, is that why he goes back to talk to her?” Little Lilly, the shortest of the first graders, was standing on her tippy toes, so anxious to hear the rest of the story.

“Well, Lilly, I’m going to get to that. Stanley became so obsessed with Sarah, that he forgot about all the rest of the people he was supposed to look after and only would watch Sarah day in and day out. Finally, God gave him an ultimatum. He said, “You can either go down and confess your love for this girl but if she refuses you must have someone else be her guardian angel, and you will never see her again. But the catch is if you ask her to come back to heaven with you, she will never get to see her family or friends again. She will remain in heaven and only be able to watch from above. You must convince her to come with you, but if she refuses as I said before you will never be able to watch over her or see her again.”

Continuing, Sarah said, “Torn between the decision he had to make, Stanley decided Sarah was worth trying to convince. If he did not try he would always regret it. The night before he went down there, Stanley again watched over Sarah, and while he did he wrote a poem he was to read to her the following day. All night he worked on this poem, and he was sure she would fall madly in love with her as soon as the words flowed out of his mouth.” All the kids oohed and awed. “The following day, Stanley dressed in his best and mentally prepared to make his visit to win Sarah over and of course brought her flowers.”

Pointing to the painting, Sarah announced that this was the scene when Stanley makes his appearance and Sarah is shockingly surprised to see him outside of her dreams.

“What happens next Mrs. Marks? Do they live happily ever after, does she go up to heaven with him, or does she stay down on earth?”

“Well kids, we don’t know the ending to the story because the artist wanted to let the viewer decide what Sarah’s decision would be.”

“Not fair, I want to know what happens.” Little Lilly was thoroughly disappointed in the ending.

“Well, that is the best part of the story. Use your imagination do decide what you think Sarah’s decision would be. You can have the end of the story be however you would like.”

After touring the rest of the museum, one of the parents came up to Melissa and said, “Huh, I heard a different version of the story, but I really like the one that you told to the class. How interesting.”