Chapter 5 – Sophia's First Exhibition
Five years later...
Sophia was nine years old.
She still painted almost every weekend.
Only now, butterflies looked like butterflies.
Flowers bloomed across enormous canvases filled with impossible colors.
When the Nashville Children's Museum invited local students to display their artwork, Sophia almost refused.
"What if nobody likes it?"
Maria smiled.
"Paintings aren't meant to please everyone."
"They're meant to tell the truth."
Opening night arrived.
Families wandered through the gallery.
Teachers applauded.
Reporters interviewed young artists.
In the center of the room hung Sophia's largest painting.
Its title read:
The Man Who Needed Color.
The painting showed a lonely gray mansion.
Standing in front of it was a little girl wearing a bright yellow raincoat.
Every brushstroke she made transformed the world around her.
Flowers bloomed.
Birds appeared.
Windows filled with light.
At the mansion's doorway stood a man smiling with tears in his eyes.
Visitors stopped for several minutes before moving on.
Some quietly wiped away tears.
A reporter approached Ethan.
"Sir, are you the man in the painting?"
Ethan looked at Sophia.
She grinned.
"I think we both are."
That answer appeared in newspapers the next morning.
May you like
It became the headline.
Sometimes the people we rescue are already rescuing us.
